


The Stars are Looking Down on Us

by ennyscave



Series: The CCCU Chronicles [1]
Category: SEVENTEEN (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Supernatural Elements, Angst, Chan is a good friend, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Humor, Hurt/Comfort, I Tried, M/M, Non-Graphic Violence, Slow Burn, Vampires, a bunch of kpop cameos, brief mention of suicidal thoughts, he's also very done, i swear is not as depressing as it seems, joshua is perfect and a mess, junhui loves the supernatural a little too much, reflection on loneliness and changing, seventeen vs the supernatural world, the other members will appear later on, vernon is SO whipped, we love being multifandom
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-10
Updated: 2020-10-10
Packaged: 2021-03-08 04:40:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 54,488
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26929795
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ennyscave/pseuds/ennyscave
Summary: Junhui and his group of friends establish the Call Call Call Us club, centered around the study of supernatural creatures and events with no logical explanation - even if Chan only believes in ghosts and Vernon is tired of getting his best friend out of trouble.The first mission of the club consists in discovering if vampires attend their high school, with primary suspect being Joshua Hong, resident sweetheart and Vernon's long time crush. And convincing Junhui to leave the pretty senior alone is not an easy task for him, especially if Junhui is convinced of his ideas and Vernon can't stand his bullshit anymore. And Chan is in the middle of all of this.Except things get even more complicated when dangerous secrets and a mysterious new world is discovered by the unfortunate trio.
Relationships: Chwe Hansol | Vernon/Hong Jisoo | Joshua
Series: The CCCU Chronicles [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1965154
Comments: 10
Kudos: 27





	The Stars are Looking Down on Us

**Author's Note:**

> Well, hello there! Thank you for checking out my (gigantic) brain child!
> 
> Just a couple of things to point out before we begin: I had to tweak Seventeen's ages a little in order for the story to work. Apart from the obvious de-aging, it's important to note that the '97 and '98 line are the same age in this fic while the other age gaps will be respected. Meaning, for example, that Vernon and Mingyu are the same age, Chan is a year younger and Jun a year older. The other important thing is, please, be aware of the tags. Although I wouldn't consider this story dark, there are still some pretty heavy topics discussed, so be mindful of that.
> 
> And now, without further ado, I'll let you begin the fic. And again, thank you so much for reading it!

_Clang! Clang! Clang!_

  


«Are you sure we’re allowed to do this?».

  


_Clang! Clang! Clang!_

  


«Well, there isn’t a rule against it.».

  


_Clang! Clang! Clang!_

  


«Just because the rule isn’t written doesn’t mean that it’s not valid!».

  


Junhui stopped his movement, the hammer awkwardly hanging in his hand next to his head, and looked back at Chan: «The school regulation says that clubs aren’t allowed unless we have a minimum of three members and the principal isn’t actively opposing it. We have both the requirements, so I don’t see the problem.».

  


Chan huffed, still unconvinced, but didn’t protest any further. Vernon rolled his eyes with a smile and gave a reassuring squeeze to the younger’s shoulder: «Don’t worry, Chan. Nobody is going to rat us out to the principal.» he said.

  


After just a couple of hammer blows, Junhui finished his work and looked at the sign now hanging from the door.

  


  


  


** CALL CALL CALL US CLUB **

** Supernatural Hunting, Studies on the Occult and Supernatural Creatures and more! **

_Do you want to become a SuNanter too?_

_Currently looking for members :D If you want to join us, please look for founder Junhui Wen or his subsidiaries Vernon Chwe and Chan Lee._

_Remember! Joining us means one less rogue vampire, werewolf, demon etc. to take care of!_

  


  


«Perfect. Just perfect.» Junhui nodded proudly, convinced that the notice made in three hours with the scented markers of his little sister and the stickers found in a random box in Chan’s attic was on par with the ones made by professionals. Well, at least the effort was.

  


«What the hell is a “SuNanter” supposed to be?» Vernon wondered out loud.

  


«Supernatural hunter.» Junhui shrugged and gave him a look that screamed “who wouldn’t know that?”. Vernon wanted to say that nobody would because nobody had the same brain that Junhui had, but he preferred to keep his mouth shut. After all, Junhui Wen was still one of his dearest friend.

  


The two of them had first met back when Vernon had just entered his first year of high school. He had been busy trying to find his classroom, when he had bumped into a tall and lanky student with a huge bag that had ended up on the floor, revealing all of its content to the eye of the student body. He hadn’t known what to say at the sight of what looked to be salt covering half of the school insignia imprinted on the floor, but the other student had simply shrugged and started collecting the tiny grains back in the bag.

  


« _It’s for keeping the demons away from here._ » was the explanation that he had received before the stranger disappeared in one of the labs with the big backpack. His science class had been delayed after discovering that every single desk of his classroom had been covered completely in salt and poor old janitor Constance had to thoroughly clean the place. After the job was done, he had heard his peers whispering about a certain Junhui Wen before the professor entered the room and almost cursed at the sight of a couple of grains onto his chair. The dude was a clean freak after all.

  


But that name found a place inside of his brain. It hadn’t taken too long for him to put a face alongside it.

  


They managed to meet each other multiple teams in the following days, mostly because the at the time sophomore wanted to make sure that none of the freshmen was a demon looking for the next juicy victim, and Vernon found himself slowly opening up to him. Behind his obsession for the occult and kind of awkward behavior, Junhui was friendly and funny, his strange habits only adding to his charm and making him overall a giant dork and a precious friend. And since Vernon was also kind of a dork, the two naturally gravitated to each other.

  


Then next year came Chan Lee, a shy boy coming from Seoul who spoke little to no English but had managed to advance a year thanks to his incredible brain. He was a year younger than Vernon but there he was, attending the same class as him while juggling an additional English course. Being proficient in Korean thanks to his father, he had offered himself to tutor the boy and soon enough he introduced Junhui to him, completing the trio he hadn’t known it was beginning to form.

  


And here they were after another year, now Vernon and Chan both juniors and Junhui in his last year of high school, all of them establishing a club all of their own.

  


«I still don’t understand why we had to choose the name “Call Call Call”. Why not something more simple and direct, like “Ghostbusters” or something else.» Chan said as they walked out of the school building. It had been too late to set up the classroom they had secretly acquired – “Nobody uses it, so we aren’t occupying anybody’s space” -, so they decided to do it the next day.

  


Juhnui shook his head in disapproval: «We need something eye catching, that name is super common and not to mention copyrighted. I don’t want people to think that our club is made of plagiarizing losers. Also, we deal with everything, not just with ghosts.».

  


«But why that name? Call us for what? Isn’t it part of the Ghostbusters theme song?».

  


«It’s not call as in the verb call, it stands for Catching All Loose Monsters. There’s a difference.».

  


«Wait. Why is there a double L? Where did the M go?» Vernon arched an eyebrow.

  


«Well, I didn’t want to use Calm Calm Calm, Call has a better ring to it.».

  


«Why not Call Call Call Me then?».

  


«Because we’re a club, a group of people, They can call all of us, not just me.» Junhui had his “Obviously” expression again.

  


«So they are calling us! Then we’re using the- you know what, I’m not gonna say anything else.» Chan ended the conversation with a huff. Vernon silently agreed.

Junhui was the only one truly on board with the supernatural hunting thing. Chan and Vernon, despite knowing him for quite a long time now, had never truly gotten interested in all of that. The former did believe in some things, but the latter considered himself an advocate of skepticism. The only reason as to why they had backed Junhui up on the club idea was because they were his only friends and they both knew how much the senior cared about it. He had been working to the project for months, researching and planning everything, from the activities, the materials, even the classroom they had chosen wasn’t a random one – the closest to the school secondary exit, in case some creatures decided to attack them, according to Junhui -. After almost a year spent perfecting all of the details, he had introduced the idea to his friends. Vernon initially hadn’t been too enthusiastic about it. Occasionally going out at night looking for leprechauns and other strange shit was one thing, but setting up what basically was a discounted version of an enterprise dedicated to the supernatural open to everyone was another.

  


But then again, this was pretty much Junhui’s dream becoming reality and he wasn’t going to ruin in. So, as a good friend would do, he accepted the idea and helped him, even if he didn’t share the same view of things on the supernatural as him. He would have considered it a chance to spend more time with his friends outside of school.

  


It didn’t take too long for the group to reach the bus stop. Junhui said goodbye to them once he got onto the vehicle.

  


«Remember to come to the club room after your last class. I’ll bring everything, so you don’t have to worry about anything other than be on time-» The bus door closed, cutting him off, but he still waved at them with a big smile on his face, reciprocated by his friends, and then the bus skidded away.

  


Chan and Vernon didn’t live too far away from each other, so they naturally both decided to take the same path every day after school. They would usually talk about their classes or comment on Junhui’s most recent deed before laughing it off and say goodbye to one another.

  


Today, however, Chan was more quiet than usual, a sore look on his face. Vernon already knew what was troubling him.

  


«Chill, nobody’ll find out about the club.» he said with a reassuring grin.

  


«I know, hyung, it’s just-» Chan let out a heavy sigh, «What if somehow my parents hear about this? I’m sure they’ll do everything to stop me from coming.».

  


«That’s not going to happen. You’ll still go to school, attend your class and then see us at the club. There’s no way for them to know about it unless someone directly tells them and both Junhui and I won’t say a thing, so stop worrying so much.».

  


Chan didn’t say anything until he eventually gave a small nod: «You’re right. Ugh, sorry, I really need to learn how to turn off my brain.» he rubbed at his forehead, some black strands curling around his fingers.

  


«But then we’ll lose all of the brain cells we posses.» he gave a friendly nudge to him.

  


«Wrong. Jun-hyung has them, they’re just hidden somewhere in his head. You’ll be the one to be in trouble.» They both cackled at the joke before changing the topic to something lighter. Chan’s relationship with his family was a very delicate subject to him, it was best not to linger too much to it.

  


Soon they reached Chan’s house. They briefly hugged before the younger said: «I’m kinda afraid of what Jun- _hyung_ is planning to do tomorrow.».

  


«What did I told you before? Stop worrying.» Vernon pushed Chan’s forehead with his index, the other giggled a bit.

  


«Okay, okay. But haven’t you seen him radiating with that much excitement? Usually that means he’s planning something crazier than usual.».

  


«Nah, I just think he was happy about officially opening the club.» he shrugged, «I’m sure we’re not going to do something big immediately from the start.».

  


  


‹(˅⃝˅)›

  


  


Vernon should have seen it coming. Like, really from the moment Junhui had announced his intentions of opening the CCCU club.

  


In the two years he got to know Junhui Wen, he had assisted at the other spreading salt all over the school, buying tons of grimoires and “possessed” tomes just to verify their cursed status, breaking into what he had called a witch coven only to find out that it was just a gathering of cosplayers and, of course, the infamous fairy dust accident. He still shivered at the mere idea of that day and the very long shower he had taken afterwards.

  


In essence, Junhui had done a lot of weird shit and wasn’t afraid to do even worse.

  


So, of course the first mission – as he had called it – of the club consisted of exposing a vampire that was attending their school.

  


«Wait, where did this idea come from?» Chan asked with a frown. He was currently sitting on one of the desk of the classroom-now-turned-clubroom while Vernon was on the floor with his back against one of the leg of the table and his chemistry book on his lap. Unfortunately crucifixes and silver bullets wouldn’t save him from the test he had next week.

  


Junhui, who was busy decorating the teacher’s desk with a series of charms and enchanted trinkets, answered without turning around: «Oh, I’ve had my suspicions for a long time. Do you really think that all of the students here are all normal human beings? Of course not!».

  


Vernon briefly raised his gaze from the book: «Are we also included?».

  


«For a month or something I was convinced you were a fairy, so I changed your ringtone to church bells, but you were fine so I figured I was wrong.».

  


«Gah- That was you?!» Vernon narrowed his eyes at Junhui’s back and grabbed his phone. For the longest time he had wondered why his Bruno Mars’ ringtone had suddenly turned into church bells, he should have figured that it was the Chinese boy’s fault. It was time to change his password.

  


«So who’s the candidate then?» Chan spoke in a curious tone.

  


The senior put down the last colored stone, the aquamarine rays coloring his right hand of a soft blue and green, then turned to them with a mischievous grin. He remained silent for a couple of seconds, probably for the suspense factor, before he uttered a name.

  


«Joshua Hong.».

  


At the mention of those words, Vernon promptly dropped his phone onto the pages of his book.

  


Oh no. He was kidding, he had to be kidding.

  


Joshua Hong was the textbook definition of high school sweetheart. He was well known in their school for his polite manners and sweet personality, he was friendly and outgoing with many students of his year and previous ones, he was at the top of his class and his teachers praised him for his stellar grades, he was the ace of the soccer team and lead voice of the school choir. And he was, of course, one of the prettiest people to have ever graced Earth.

  


Essentially, Joshua Hong was the closest thing they had to a perfect human being.

  


And Vernon might have or not have held a bit of a crush for him for almost three years now.

  


So of course he wasn’t going to sit idle and assist his best friend with his possibly craziest plan to date. He stood up, the chemistry book abandoned on the ground alongside his phone. To hell Darwin’s theory of evolution, he had more important things to do.

  


«Why exactly are you thinking that he’s a vampire?».

  


«First of all-» he raised his index, «there’s the mystery of what happened to him last year.».

  


Joshua was actually a year older than Junhui and should have already been out of high school by now. But last year, around the beginning of winter, he had stopped coming to class for the rest of the semester without giving any explanation as to why. At the time, rumor after rumor started circulating, about how he had run away with his alleged wife – or husband, he was bi after all -, how he had died in a tragic accident after saving the life of an entire family, someone even thought about the possibility of him getting kidnapped and then shipped off to an unknown country. Nobody really knew where he had gone and if he was even alive to begin with.

  


And then, at the beginning of the new school year, here came Joshua in all of his glory, healthy and possibly even more beautiful than before. And just like they had arrived, the rumors vanished and everyone dismissed that period of time as a distant memory that never happened to begin with. Joshua had returned, after all, why linger more on the mystery?

  


Vernon couldn’t lie and say that he wasn’t a little curios regarding what the senior had gotten involved into last winter, but he also wasn’t brave enough to directly ask him, meaning he could only make suppositions and create possible scenarios.

  


None of them however came close to what Junhui had just implied.

  


«Second, I noticed how he has been avoiding garlic since coming back to school, something he has never done before-».

  


«Wait, have you been watching him eat?» Chan asked with a frown. Vernon would have worried more about the fact that Junhui had basically confessed that he had been keeping an eye on him for quite a while now.

  


«I always look for those who don’t eat garlic at lunch.» Junhui gave as an explanation with a shrug, «I have an entire list of people who I think are vampires. And third-».

  


«Ever thought about the possibility of someone not liking garlic?».

  


«-he always wears turtlenecks or high-cut shirts. He’s clearly hiding a bite mark!».

  


«Or maybe it’s the beginning of November and he’s sensitive to cold.» Chan inquired. Vernon was grateful that he wasn’t the only one thinking rationally.

  


«Seriously, Jun, don’t you think you’re exaggerating? I mean, okay, he disappeared for months for unknown reasons and then returned like nothing happened, but my first thought doesn’t exactly involve vampirism.».

  


«That’s because you’re not thinking outside of the box. Seriously, ponder over it a little: the most popular student of the school goes missing and nobody knows for certain the reason? Of course there’s something shady involved. And what’s shadier than walking cadavers that suck blood in order to stay alive?».

  


«Gangs? The mafia? Government conspiracies?» Vernon easily replied.

  


«Or maybe he just had family problems and not necessarily something crime related?» Chan tried, «Why are you two only thinking about scary stuff?».

  


They both ignored him, leaving poor Chan with a dissatisfied pout on his face.

  


«Vernon, I’m not going to kill him or anything. I just want to make sure that he’s not going to bite you right after a make-out session.».

  


«What- What does that mean?!» he squeaked, he could already feel the blush making its way to his cheeks.

  


«Oh, please, you didn’t even try to hide your crush for Joshua Hong. It’s useless to deny it.» Junhui clapped his hands once, as if to finish the discussion: «So! Here’s the plan: I’ve brought with me a couple of anti-vampire charms» he fished from his pocket one of the rosaries he had hung on his bedroom. When he had been to his house the first time, Vernon had spent a couple of minutes just staring at that wall full of beaded necklaces in awe, «and we’re going to test every single one of it on your lover boy. If he passes the test, congratulations! That means I was wrong and you get a new boyfriend with both mine and Chan’s approval.».

  


«Pretty sure _hyung_ just needs to grow a pair instead of our approval.» Chan commented with a giggle, Vernon gave an unimpressed look.

  


«Could you please stop talking as if I wasn’t here with you in the same room?».

  


«Now that I think about it, this is the perfect opportunity for _hyung_ to interact with him. Maybe he’ll even score a date!».

  


«Only if we verify that he’s a human, I don’t want Vernon to hang out with a vampire. Although it would be really cool to have a friend like that. Maybe we’re lucky, Joshua is a vegan vampire and Vernon gets a boy toy while I get new info on the vampire community. That would actually be perfect.».

  


«Guys, I’m still _here_.» Once he raised his voice, he finally got the attention of both his friends, «I’m not getting a boy toy and you aren’t getting new info because he’s a normal human being.» He let out a sigh before driving his gaze back on the Chinese boy: «Do we really have to do this? Couldn’t we just, I don’t know, go looking for the Slenderman or film vlogs inside of haunted houses Buzzfeed Unsolved style?».

  


«Too lame and basic. And the Slenderman was last spotted in Russia, so unless you have a couple of bucks for a last minute trip, we are sticking to this plan.» Junhui patted his shoulder, Vernon noticed Chan sighing in relief after the senior’s words, «Why are you so opposed to the idea? I’m not going to kill him or anything, and as Chan said you can see this as an opportunity to finally talk _to_ him instead of daydreaming _of_ him.».

  


Vernon hated the fact that the prospect of holding a real conversation with Joshua was slowly convincing him to actually agree to the idea and help Junhui with one of his craziest plans. He could have said that no, he didn’t need this chance, he could have simply walked up to him and introduced himself. But he also knew that he didn’t have the courage to do so.

  


For some reason he had always found Joshua Hong to be a bit intimidating and closed off, despite his friendly and bright aura. Vernon wasn’t shy or anything, he just couldn’t bring himself to go near the popular senior for reasons he still had yet to uncover. He almost felt like a prince tasked to save the princess from the evil dragon, only he first had to climb over a gigantic wall. And after his mysterious disappearance and sudden return, the wall had seemingly gotten even higher and full of thorns and traps.

  


And if the only way to get over the wall was to get creative and find a new entrance, what else was he supposed to do?

  


Maybe the reason as to why he had gotten close to Junhui in the first place was because they both had something wrong inside of their brains. That could be the only reasonable way as to why he found himself accepting his plan.

  


«You promise me that you won’t do anything absurd and that after a couple of trials you’ll move on to other stuff?».

  


«Well, you two are helping me, so I’m not doing anything alone-».

  


« _Junhui_.».

  


«Fine, fine, I won’t go overboard. I wasn’t planning to anyway. I’ll try one thing or two and then I’ll leave him be.» Junhui said, looking directly at Vernon’s eyes, «I just want to make sure that you won’t end up getting together with someone who sees you only as a meal. I would very much prefer having my best friend whole, not finding his body dry and eaten by worms and mugs near a river.» he added with a smile and patted lightly the junior’s shoulder.

  


Vernon wasn’t worried about the possibility of Joshua coming for his blood, but he still appreciated Junhui’s intentions: «I’m sure I’m not even that tasty.» he joked with a grin.

  


«Of course, Chan’s the real buffet here.».

  


« _Yah_! Don’t compare me to food.» Chan grumbled as he got down from the desk.

  


«I was complementing you, _baobao_. I’m sure every single vampire of the area is waiting for you right outside school and the only reason as to why they aren’t attacking is because of my charms.» his voice got lower and he slowly walked towards Chan, «But one day, when both Vernon and I won’t be here to protect you, they’ll come for you. They’ll be in the shadows, watching you with scarlet eyes and sharp fangs, their thirst for blood getting stronger and stronger every time you get close to them. And then-» he raised his arms, hands in the shape of claws and he hissed, «-they’ll chase you until they will suck every last drop of blood you have in your body!» and then he started running towards Chan, who in turn leaped behind one of the desks with laughter coming out from his lips. Vernon snickered as he watched fondly the two playing and jumping all over the classroom until Junhui blocked the other with a bear hug and sent him straight to the floor in a heap of giggles and tickles.

  


Vernon wasn’t too happy with the senior’s plan in the end. Once again he was asking himself if his friendship with Junhui was enough for him to endure all of the supernatural bullshit, but assisting at the scene and then finally joining the duo in their play-fight reminded him that the answer was and would always be positive.

  


At least he could count on Chan for containing the possible damages.

  


  


‹(˅⃝˅)›

  


  


After their brief meeting in the morning and a quick explanation on what they were going to do that day, Vernon and the others separated in order to attend their lessons – although Vernon spent majority of his English and History classes trying to study Chemistry. Vampires or not, the exam was still there -. At lunch, they met at their usual table at the corner of the room and Junhui revised once again the plan while simultaneously smuggling as much garlic as he could inside of his backpack. The plan hadn’t even began and Vernon’s nose was already raising a white flag. He didn’t want to imagine how Junhui would have managed to get rid of that atrocious smell that night at home.

  


And after their afternoon classes here they were in the hallway, Vernon and Junhui next to each other and Chan on the opposite side right in front of the exit. Vernon felt like a vulture waiting for his prey while standing still in the middle of the student body, some of them sending him weird looks while others dismissing him as soon as they noticed Junhui. Most of them were used to the senior’s shenanigans, so they didn’t even bother disturbing them and went on with their day.

  


«Oh, I think I saw him.» Junhui gestured with his head at someone in the middle of the crowd. Vernon eyed at the other’s hands currently buried deep into the pockets of his hoodie.

  


«Are you really sure of this? We can always try something a little less… invasive.» he mumbled while looking at the distance. He now could see a head of light brown hair coming out of a classroom surrounded by a group of people.

  


Junhui preferred to walk towards their target instead of answering. Vernon let out a sigh but still followed him.

  


He could do it, he just had to strike a conversation and distract Joshua for a couple of minutes. His part was arguably the simplest. It was easy for him to talk to strangers.

  


Even if strangers usually weren’t walking angels.

  


The crowd of students dispersed and there he was Joshua Hong, the embodiment of everything good in this world, with his big eyes, soft-looking light brown hair and perfect smile.

  


A wave of embarrassment washed over him, but then Junhui gave him a silent signal with his eyes and he forced it back down before walking up to the group.

  


«H-Hey.» he made his presence known with a hesitant start and a raised hand. A couple of girls gave him a confused and borderline-disgusted look, but Joshua, bless his kind and pure soul, replied with a slight nod.

  


«Hello. I don’t think we’ve ever seen each other before…?».

  


«Vernon. I’m a junior.» he still had his hand awkwardly hanging in the air so he decided to put it down, but Joshua grabbed it and gave it a gentle squeeze.

  


«Nice to meet you. I’m Joshua, senior.» he replied, his tone sweet and melodic. _God, his hands are so soft. And his eyes are so big. And his face is so cute. And oh, that guy is glaring at him. Are they dating? Did I interrupt them? Fuck, shit. I knew I shouldn’t have listened to Junhui! Why, why, why-_

  


«And you’re Junhui, right?».

  


Vernon hadn’t noticed that his best friend was now next to him. His expression was polite but he had that focused glint in his pupils that he always had every time he was determined. The students behind him had their brows furrowed and their mouths curled in distaste.

  


Clearly they felt the smell suspiciously coming from Junhui. It was very hard to miss it.

  


«Yes. Nice to meet you.» he shook Joshua’s hand leaning a little too close for someone who had just introduced themselves, but he quickly straightened his back like everything was normal. Even if nothing of this situation was normal.

  


«Is there anything that you need from me?» Joshua asked, his gaze jumping from Vernon to Junhui, seemingly indifferent to the stink that was now circulating around them. Vernon had to start breathing only through his mouth in order not to show any reaction.

  


«N-No! We just wanted to- to talk for a moment. Un-Unless you’re busy now.» _Bury me. Why am I so awkward? This isn’t how I imagined my first conversation with him was going to go._

  


But again Joshua saved the atmosphere: «No, don’t worry. I was just getting home, but I don’t mind talking with you two for a bit.» he smiled. The students surrounding them came closer to the senior and told him something too faint for Vernon to hear, but Joshua gave a small, dismissive wave and watched as the group walked to the exit without him. Chan was still there, keeping an eye on them, a hand behind his back that Vernon knew held a rosary while a second and third one were around his neck.

  


«Perfect! Because, you know, Vernon here has to tell you something important.» Junhui said with a mischievous smile. He subtly took a step forward, he was now next to Joshua who still seemed perfectly fine despite having the equivalent of a junkyard on his left.

  


Vernon looked lost for a second before he spoke: «Uhm, yeah! Right! I need to tell you something.» he smiled but his gaze was stuck on his best friend. He tried to convey all of his anger and homicidal thirst in his eyes before his head turned back to his interlocutor, hopefully Joshua wouldn’t notice that.

  


«I’m all ears.» he was now fully looking at him, his tone still honey-like and now curiosity swirling in his pupils. He hadn’t noticed it until now, but there was a small portion of his irises that was a lighter shade of brown compared to the rest of the eye. It almost looked like golden under the artificial light of the hallway.

  


Vernon, who was weak for pretty things and very pretty people, stayed silent staring at his eyes before he shook his head and remembered why was he there.

  


  


_Stop getting distracted! Think of something!_

  


And Vernon, who liked to think of himself as a smooth talker and someone very good at getting out of uncomfortable situations, came up with the following response.

  


«D-Do you know that otters hug each other while sleeping?»

  


The moment the words came out of his mouth, he wanted to slam his head against the lockers and then the ground. Even Junhui was giving him the “really?” look.

  


Joshua didn’t seem to know what exactly say, he just remained frozen with a perplexed look on his face and his mouth hanging open: «That’s… adorable. Thank you for telling me…?».

  


_Good job, Vernon. Say goodbye to all of the ideas for dates you had. Not that you were planning to ask him out in the first place._

  


His embarrassment had to be visible because Joshua waved his hands in front of him: «I’m serious, it’s truly fascinating and cute! I’m sure it must be lovely to see.» he was still smiling, even if it was a bit forced and awkward. Why was he such a perfect human being? Maybe he really was a vampire because no human being would have tried to make him feel better after such catastrophic conversation.

  


Oh right, vampire. Junhui.

  


Junhui who was currently behind Joshua with basically no space in between them. Just half of a step and they would have touched. The smell should have been unbearable at that distance.

  


And yet the senior still looked composed and perfectly okay with it.

  


_Okay, I’ve had enough._

  


«It was a pleasure to meet you, Joshua! See you next time!» he didn’t wait for an answer, grabbed Junhui’s arm and dragged him to the nearest restroom. Once they were inside, he locked the door and leaned against it with his back, a sigh escaping from his mouth and his eyes closed.

  


He couldn’t stay like that for long because a strong smell of garlic came barreling into his nostrils and he almost gagged at that.

  


«Good lord, throw that shit away!» he groaned. Junhui however, instead of listening to him, was eyeing the floor with a conflicted look on his face.

  


«I don’t understand. I was sure he was going to smell it eventually.» he mumbled with a pout on his lips as he extracted all of the garlic slices from his pockets and then moving to the ones in his sweater.

  


Vernon felt immediately better once he saw all of the food ending straight up in the trash can and after he opened the window of the restroom. Unfortunately he couldn’t say the same for the heat on his face: «Is this proof enough that he isn’t a vampire? Please tell me yes, because if you think I can do something like that again, you’re so wrong.» he spoke a little too harshly than intended, but the only thing he wanted to do now was hide in a ditch for the rest of his days and pray that Joshua would forget that exchange.

  


Why the hell did he decide to watch a documentary before going to bed last night?

  


Before Junhui could answer, the door of the restroom moved, someone was trying to open it from the outside but once they realized the door wouldn’t budge, they started knocking. For a second he thought about the possibility of Joshua following them, but luckily he was soon contradicted.

  


«Guys, it’s me.» came Chan’s voice. Vernon immediately went to open the door.

  


«Nothing weird happened. He just passed by me without a problem.» Chan relayed as he got rid of all of the rosaries and gave them back to Junhui, whose expression got even more sour, «Oh, jeez, this smell is terrible. How did you two managed to talk with all of the stink?» his nose curled and he immediately covered it with a hand.

  


Vernon wanted to say that talking to the popular boy had made him enter inside of a bubble completely detached from the world, a meteor could have fallen outside of the school and he wouldn’t have noticed, but a huff behind him made him turn around and he saw Junhui sitting on the floor, arms crossed and a deep frown on his forehead.

  


«Why did nothing happen? I’m sure I followed all of the instructions, and these are my best rosaries!» he had started rambling and gesturing with his hands, «No vampire should have come out of that conversation completely fine and healthy. Could there be something that prevents the garlic to be effective? Guys, do you know if some spices can block the smell of garlic?».

  


« _Hyung_ , don’t you think that maybe Joshua is just a person and that’s why nothing happened to him?» Chan said leaning back against one of the sinks. Vernon was glad he wasn’t the only one thinking that.

  


Junhui seemed to be wanting to defend his hypothesis, but then he bit his lip in frustration and dug from his backpack an old, small book with a leather cover: «I must have missed something…» he soon got lost in between the words of the tome, occasionally muttering something under his breath. Vernon prayed that he wouldn’t find anything in there that would instill other weird ideas and plans. This had been just the first mission of the CCCU club and he already was fed up with it.

  


He sighed and went to spray some water on his face, hoping to wash away the shame and possibly the memory of talking to Joshua. He caught his reflection on the fogged mirror, his black bangs slightly wet and dripping onto the sink and cheeks finally free from the red. He met Chan’s gaze trough the glass.

  


«So, how did it go?» he asked and Vernon knew that he wasn’t referring to the plan.

  


«You know that scene in the movies, where the train is on a bridge and then the bridge collapses? Well, add an hurricane and a tsunami and you get the idea.».

  


Chan laughed a little: «Come on, I’m sure it wasn’t that bad-».

  


«I talked about otters. _Otters_ , of all things. ».

  


«-Or maybe not.» Even if he agreed with him, Vernon couldn’t help but curl his mouth distastefully, «But I’m sure there will be other occasions to make a good impression! Don’t get discouraged!» The younger tried with an encouraging grin.

  


«Chan, I humiliated myself right after I told him my name. I’m sure he’s thinking that I’m a weirdo, I’ll never be able to talk to him again.».

  


«That won’t happen.».

  


Suddenly Junhui stood up, a look of determination in his eyes: «It’s too soon to give up. I have other tricks up my sleeve and this time-» he closed the small book dramatically, «-I’ll make sure they’ll work.».

  


«Are you still convinced that he’s a vampire?» Vernon’s voice came out as whiny.

  


«I clearly underestimated him, but I won’t make the same mistake twice.» he kneeled down and picked up his backpack, «Tomorrow we’ll do a reunion. We need a new plan, and Vernon I need you to start planning conversations in advance. I’m sure you can come up with better stuff than the otters.» and then he got out of the restroom with big steps, the smell of garlic getting fainter. For a second, he met Chan’s gaze and they both stayed silent, the same thought going through their head.

  


_What is he planning now?_

  


They both quickly caught up to the Chinese boy and Vernon noticed how all of the students either stepped away from them or speed-walked. He had become insensitive to the smell now, but he was sure both him and Junhui were reeking of garlic. He hoped he wouldn’t need to wash his clothes more than twice to get rid of it.

  


Seriously, how did Joshua resist to that? Even people distant a couple of meters from them covered their nose, but he not only had looked perfectly okay with it, as if the stink wasn’t there in the first place, but had also led a conversation without a problem. Either the senior had a cold or he had smelled the garlic and hadn’t really bothered him. For some reason, Vernon had the impression that both suppositions were wrong.

  


«Hey, why don’t we go get some ice cream?» Chan proposed while opening the entrance doors.

  


«I’m down to it.» Vernon immediately agreed.

  


«But I have to-».

  


«You’re not going to use the “I have to study” excuse, I hope.» Chan interrupted him. Junhui hugged his book tighter to his chest.

  


«Well, I wasn’t, I don’t think that doing research for a vampire who’s roaming around the school is considered an excuse-».

  


«We’re getting ice cream, end of the story.» Vernon grabbed Junhui’s sleeve and started dragging him into the opposite direction of the bus stop, the Chinese boy struggling behind him in vain, «You’re lucky that my parents lent me their car today.».

  


«Oh, really? Then you’ll bring me home afterwards?» Junhui stopped fighting and looked up at him with big puppy eyes. Or in his case kitten-like.

  


«If you pay, I might think about it.».

  


«Chan too?» he whines.

  


The younger popped from their side: «Well, in Korea it’s tradition for the oldest of the group to buy food and things for the younger ones, sooo-».

  


«Fine, I’ll pay for both of you.» Junhui rolled his eyes with a pout, «But I’m the first one you take home.».

  


«Yeah, yeah.» Vernon couldn’t help but chuckle at the other immediately changing back to a happy demeanor. Sometimes it was hard to believe that Junhui was older than him with how child-like and naïve he could be, but then he would get reminded of that whenever the Chinese boy would spout out some wise words or give him advice as if he had lived for ages.

  


Maybe Junhui was the real vampire. It wouldn’t surprise him considering that he hadn’t physically changed since he had first met him, except for changing his hair color from black to brown.

  


Thanks to the car, they reached the ice cream parlor in just a few minutes and Junhui begrudgingly paid for all of them. The ice cream helped him forget about the garlic accident and distracted the senior enough to not talk about vampires for the rest of the day. Instead, they talked about another hot topic between them: Junhui’s new neighbors.

  


Truth to be told, there wasn’t a lot to say on that considering that they had finished moving just a couple of days ago and Junhui had no idea of what even were their faces or why they had moved next to him. It was his mother that first saw them last weekend, the day they had just arrived, and since then she hadn’t stopped mentioning them.

  


Mostly because one of them was Chinese and partly because, apparently, said Chinese was incredibly good-looking.

  


«You still haven’t seen them, _hyung_?» Chan asked. He had some vanilla ice cream on his cheek, so Vernon used a tissue to get rid of it. The younger batted his hand away with a pout and did it himself with his finger, completely missing the stain. Vernon smirked and proceeded to clean his face properly, this time Chan didn’t protest and let the other do what he wanted with a roll of his eyes.

  


«I mean, I’ve seen one of them getting on his motorcycle and driving away but that’s about it. The other one never comes out.» Junhui shrugged.

  


«What were their names again?» Vernon said.

  


«One of them is Korean, something like Jihan? Jaehoon? Something like that. The other’s name is Minghao.».

  


«The hot one who rides the bike?».

  


«Maybe? I don’t know what he looks like, maybe he’s the hermit. What makes you say that he has the bike?».

  


Chan shrugged: «Someone who rides a bike _has_ to be hot.».

  


«Aren’t you straight?».

  


«So what? I’m just saying, objectively speaking, people who drive motorcycles are hot.».

  


«Are you saying that you find my dad hot?» Vernon raised an eyebrow.

  


«He owns a scooter, _hyung_. There’s a difference. And no offense, but, ew, no.».

  


«My mom is definitely prettier.» Junhui came from the side.

  


«We aren’t talking about them. And, in any case, you’re wrong.».

  


«Can we not argue over who’s more attractive among our parents?» Vernon stopped the useless fight. Even if it would have been very entertaining to watch.

  


Junhui grimaced but didn’t comment any further and took a scoop of strawberry from his cup. Chan did the same.

  


«But really, you should talk to them, at least to this Minghao. You’re super lucky to have another fellow Chinese as your neighbor.» Vernon affirmed with a smile.

  


«Just because he comes from China doesn’t mean he’s someone worthy to get to know. What if he’s a bad person? Or worse, not human?».

  


«How is it that the supernatural always comes back in our conversations?».

  


They both ignored Vernon’s comment: «Why would you say that he’s bad?» Chan asked.

  


«Well, he owns a motorbike.».

  


«So now my father is a bad person?».

  


«Stop involving your father into this! And Minghao has the definition of a motorbike, like the engine is huge and it’s all black and red. Hell, he dresses in black from head to toe!» Junhui exclaimed, making big gesture with his arms and almost letting go of the cup.

  


«Haven’t you seen him, like, once? And didn’t you just say you don’t know if Minghao’s the biker or the hermit?» The junior arched an eyebrow.

  


Again, Junhui stuffed his mouth with ice cream instead of responding. Vernon had the feeling that the senior didn’t really believe that his neighbors could be working for a crime syndicate and that he probably just felt nervous. Despite his bubbly personality, Junhui was actually kind of shy and he was never the one to make the first move.

  


«I’m sure he’s an amazing guy. Who knows, maybe you have a lot of things in common and could become friends in no time.» Chan offered.

  


«Mhm. I’ll think about it.» he finished with another pout, «I just get a strange feeling from him. Or that house in general, I don’t know.».

  


«We could come with you, if you need. I don’t mind meeting new people. And I’m sure Chan will be happy to talk to another Korean.» Vernon proposed. A smile immediately settled onto the younger’s face.

  


«Yeah. Maybe after our mission.».

  


Vernon kind of hoped that Junhui would have forgotten that. Of course, that didn’t happen.

  


He downed some chocolate ice cream trying to keep down all of the anxiety that was slowly forming in his gut. Sometimes he was scared of whatever was going on inside of the Chinese boy mind.

  


  


‹(˅⃝˅)›

  


  


Junhui set the next plan in motion three days later.

  


After a couple of nights spent surfing for questionable sites and reading almost all of the books on the supernatural available in the library, the Chinese boy had concluded that the only reason as to why Joshua hadn’t been affected by the garlic and the rosaries was because they weren’t as effective as many of his books had made them to be. Meaning, they needed to find something strong and that Joshua couldn’t have possibly protected himself from.

  


At first Junhui had thought about the sun, but Chan had immediately reminded him that Joshua had spent an entire day in a park for a charity event with zero clouds in the sky without turning into ashes, so he clearly wasn’t bothered by the light.

  


And that was where the mirror idea came out.

  


And that was why Vernon was currently inside of the empty restroom, waiting for Joshua to come and try to get rid of the food that Chan would have “accidentally” splattered against his clothes during lunchtime.

  


Initially he hadn’t been okay with the idea, at least not so soon after the garlic accident, but Junhui had been adamant on doing it and if Vernon had no intention of participating, he would have done it alone regardless. So he had had no choice but to accept. The prospect of Junhui acting alone was more terrifying than possibly ruining his reputation even more.

  


Chan and Junhui had immediately given him the role of talking to Joshua and check if his reflection was missing from the restroom’s mirrors. He would have strangled both of them for leaving him alone with the senior if his brain hadn’t intervened and remembered him that that would have probably been his only chance to redeem himself in Joshua’s eyes. So, eventually, he caved in and accepted.

  


At least he wouldn’t be distracted by other people and could have actually reflected on his words before spilling them out.

  


He looked down at his phone. Still no message from Junhui or Chan.

  


He sighed and tried to dry his sweaty palms on his pants. He hadn’t felt so nervous in a very long time and that was just the second time he would have talked to Joshua. He hadn’t even gotten closer to the wall surrounding the senior, how was he supposed to overcome it without making a fool of himself again?

  


Just a couple of minutes later, a notification came from his phone.

  


  


**_Dinosaur:_ **

****

_Joshua’s on the way. Fighting, hyung! :p_

  


Usually he would have answered with a witty remark, but his brain was a jumble of thoughts and scenarios right now, it was too hard for him to write a proper reply. He put his phone back in his pocket, checked if his hair were okay and then turned on the water and pretended to wash his hands.

  


And just a couple of seconds later, he heard footsteps and a muttered curse before the door opened and Joshua walked in.

  


His usually smiley face was now adorned with an annoyed frown, his gaze down and focused on the red stain decorating his turtleneck, but when he realized he wasn’t alone, his features immediately morphed into a surprised expression: «Oh, it’s you. Vernon, right?».

  


«Yeah. Hi.» thankfully his voice didn’t waver this time, «Oh, do you need a hand with that?».

  


«No, it’s fine. Just some water and hopefully it’ll go away.» he said and walked up to the sink next to Vernon. For a second the possibility of him being a vampire sparkled and he found himself looking at the mirror in front of the senior, but of course his reflection was there. Joshua was human, after all. Why did he even think Junhui was right about his nature?

  


«Ah, dammit. Why is it so hard to wash it off?» Joshua mumbled to himself, his soaked hands moving up and down the sweater but the stain wasn’t getting anywhere. An idea suddenly popped into his brain and before he could back down, Vernon ripped off a paper towel and went near the other.

  


«Wait, let me try.» he dabbed the now wet towel onto the red mark. He felt Joshua getting rigid for a moment, but then he relaxed. Vernon tried to fight down the blush threatening to come out, «Who’s the culprit?» he said to distract himself.

  


«Someone I don’t know. A sophomore, I think.» Joshua responded, there was the slightest hint of frustration and somehow care in his tone, «But he immediately apologized, so I’m not angry at him. I probably should have also been more careful.».

  


«I see.» he nodded before the silence returned between the two, the only sound present being the paper desperately trying to absorb the dirt on Joshua’s turtleneck. At least he had a task that was helping him to distract himself from the closeness. Unfortunately it seemed that the stain had no intention to disappear, but at least the color wasn’t as vibrant as before.

  


Joshua gently moved away Vernon’s hands: «Thank you for effort, but at this point I think water won’t help me more than this.».

  


«Oh- I’m sorry.» He knew that this was just part of the plan, but he genuinely felt bad for the senior. The cream turtleneck really looked good on him, it was a shame that it was now ruined.

  


«Why are you apologizing? It’s not your fault.» Joshua finally smiled, his face looked so much better with the corners of his lips lifted instead of down, «Unless this is all part of a ploy for us to be alone so that you can murder me.».

  


«What- Of course not!» he defended himself, but Joshua was just laughing at him.

  


«Chill, it was just a joke. Loosen up a little, do I make you uncomfortable?».

  


«No, no, no.» _I just don’t know what to say in front of the most attractive person I’ve ever seen,_ «I’m just nervous for an exam I have next week.».

  


«Ah, I see. Then good luck, you seem smart so I’m sure you’ll make it.» Joshua moved his arms behind his back, the grin still on his lips, «I also am a bit nervous for next week. I’ll be a new tutor for the additional English course for exchange students. I kinda feel you.».

  


«Really? I thought you were in the soccer club and in the choir.».

  


«Well, I was in them. Unfortunately I had to leave them due to my disease.».

That made Vernon’s eyebrows rise: «You’re sick? What happened?».

  


  


«It’s the reason as to why last year I stopped coming to class.» Joshua pointed at his chest, «Respiratory infection. Thankfully now it’s all under control, but the doctor recommended me to stop doing activities that would strain my lungs, so goodbye soccer and choir.».

  


Oh. Damn. Vernon didn’t expect that that would be the reason as to why Joshua had vanished out of nowhere. He had to admit it, his mind had come up with incredibly strange and somewhat dark theories, even Junhui wouldn’t have been able to formulate some of the hypothesis he had thought of - minus the supernatural stuff, of course -. But now that the main suspect himself had cleared up the mystery, he kind of felt bad for thinking of some of those possibilities.

  


«I’m sorry to hear that. Your companions must have been devastated to lose you.».

  


Joshua shrugged: «It happened, I don’t want my health to deteriorate, so there’s not really much else I can do. And they weren’t all that desperate, they already had someone else at the choir and I’m sure there’s going to be a replacement for the soccer team too.».

  


He found it a little weird how the senior talked casually about this. He didn’t know Joshua, of course, but he had always had the impression that he was passionate about his hobbies. He had seen the pride and joy whenever he scored a goal during matches or how good he was an conveying his emotions through notes and falsettos, he clearly took singing and soccer very seriously. But hearing him now, sounding so detached from the clubs, made him think that he had misunderstood the other.

  


Joshua wasn’t exactly how he was expecting him to be. Then again, he had based his opinions only on rumors and assumptions, which were probably the least reliable sources of them all.

  


But now, he had a tangible chance to get to know him properly.

  


«I’m also a tutor for the transfer students, by the way. If you need any help, just ask me.» he said with a smile.

  


«Oh, good. Glad to know that there will be someone that I know.» Joshua enthusiastically replied. Vernon would have argued that literally every single student would have bent their back for him, but he remained silent and just stared at the senior’s pretty smile.

  


The silence came once again, the air of awkwardness was still there but it had considerably reduced compared to their first meeting. Hopefully Vernon wouldn’t be associated with otters anymore in Joshua’s eyes, so he felt a lot more calm compared to before. The prospect of seeing Joshua again next Tuesday wasn’t as scary as before, in fact he wished he could jump forward in time and find himself in the clubroom with Joshua next to him.

  


He could already picture the scene, a foreigner asking for help with his homework and Joshua sitting next to the student with a sweet grin and a reassuring gesture, taking a pen for himself and starting to solve the problems. And Vernon would have probably stood somewhere else in the classroom, staring like an idiot at the object of his desire trying not to drool.

  


He was aware of how pathetic he looked like.

  


A message brought him back to reality. He took his phone out and looked at the screen.

  


  


**_Jun_ **

****

_Answer this message as soon as you see it, or_

_I’ll be convinced that Joshua killed you after_

_you discovered him_ **_(_ ** **_」_ ** **_°_ ** **_ロ_ ** **_°)_ ** **_」_ **

He realized that lunchtime was almost over once his eyes fell over the time displayed, his next class would have begun soon, so he moved to grab his backpack left near the sink before a thought came to mind.

  


_Has he eaten anything?_

  


He knew that Joshua usually arrived at the cafeteria later compared to the other students. He also knew that Junhui had instructed Chan to send him to the restroom as soon as possible. There was a high chance that the senior hadn’t actually consumed his meal, he should have done something for it.

  


So he fished out a bag of chips from his backpack and offered it to him: «Here. You must be hungry.».

  


«Oh, no, you don’t have to-».

  


«It’s fine. I’ve already eaten, I don’t mind giving it to you.» he shrugged. Joshua still seemed hesitant, but then he picked up a couple of chips from the bag.

  


«These are more than enough. You can put it away.».

  


«I insist.» he pushed the packet onto Joshua chest, forcing him to grab it with his own hands, «I don’t want you to fall over during class. I swear, garlic chips are an amazing energizer. They’ve helped me get over so many lessons without falling asleep from boredom.».

  


Joshua’s eyes travelled from the bag of chips to Vernon’s face: «I’m- You’re not going to let me go unless I accept them, am I right?».

  


«Affirmative.».

  


He let out a sigh, some brownish locks landed in front of his eyelashes. Vernon wanted to move them behind one of his ear, they were long enough to do that, but he refrained from doing so.

  


Eventually Joshua decided to take the snack: «Fine. You win this time. Thank you for saving my stomach.» he added sarcastically.

  


«Not a problem.» Vernon put on his backpack, «I have to go now. I’ll see you next week, then?».

  


Joshua nodded, a beautiful smile on his plump lips: «Yeah, see you.» He gave a last wave before Vernon got out of the restroom. He was aware of the stupid grin and dreamy look he had on, but he couldn’t be bothered by what other students would think of him. He had managed to hold a normal conversation with Joshua, and they soon would have seen each other without involving any weird, anti-vampiric ritual! Despite the absurdity of Junhui’s ideas, they had actually helped him to get a little bit closer to the senior and even if that wasn’t the original objective, he was still a bit grateful to his best friend.

  


And speaking of the devil, his phone dinged once again.

  


  


**_Jun_ **

****

_Vernon???_

_Do I have to go get my wooden stake???_ **_ψ(▼_ ** **_へ_ ** **_▼_ ** **_メ_ ** **_)_ ** **_～_ ** **_→_ **

  


_i’m alive, dude. dn’t worry._

  


**_Jun_ **

****

****

_Oh, thank God. I was getting worried_ _＼_ _(_ _￣_ _▽_ _￣_ _)_ _／_

_So? Any results??_ _(´_ _｡_ _• ᵕ •_ _｡_ _`)_

_nthg. saw his reflection._

_will u leave him alone now?_

_class is starting soon. talk 2 u later._

  


He didn’t receive an answer. Most likely, Junhui was pouting at his phone, disappointed that his plan didn’t give the result that he hoped for.

  


_Please, tell me that he won’t try anything else after this_ he thought as he reached the door to the next classroom.

  


A couple of hours later, he met Chan in the hallway and briefly told him what had happened. Unsurprisingly, the younger was brimming with excitement once Vernon finished the story.

  


«Yes, I knew you would win him over in no time.»

  


Vernon coughed embarrassed while trying to avoid the crowd of people: «No, I didn’t. We only spoke two times, let’s make it one and a half.» He wasn’t going to classify the otters fiasco as an actual part of the conversation.

  


«But he wants to see you again. He’s clearly interested in you.».

  


«Because I’m the only one he knows in the tutoring club. Don’t you think you’re going a bit too ahead with your head?».

  


Chan quickly waved his index in a “no no” gesture: «You’re still on friendly terms now, but trust me. I’m sure you’ll soon get together. I’m pretty good at predicting this kind of things.».

  


«Just like you predicted that Junhui would start dating Jihyo Park only to discover that she was already seeing Daniel Kang for a year?».

  


«I’ve said that I’m good, not that I’m perfect. Have some faith in me.» Chan playfully hit him on the shoulder, «And that was before I knew that Junhui is as straight as a sphere.».

  


Vernon almost fell over from laughing at that. Luckily he ended up bumping into a trash can, not so luckily his phone accidentally fell inside of it and he had to take it out. At least he didn’t saw any used tissues or other gross stuff.

  


However he did notice something else.

  


His phone had landed atop a bag of chips that, judging from the _crunches_ and _cracks_ coming from it, was nowhere near finished. In fact, it seemed like the owner had barely eaten one or two chips. He recognized the brand since it was the one he usually brought at school, they were even garlic flavored.

  


For a second a scenario popped into his mind before he immediately erased it from his brain. Of course something like that wouldn’t have happened.

  


_What a coincidence, though_ he thought before grabbing his phone and catching up to Chan.

  


After a couple of minutes they reached the CCCU clubroom. Junhui was already inside, once again reading one of his tomes on the occult, a frown of concentration on his forehead. He was so focused on the book that he didn’t notice the company he had until Vernon tapped on his shoulder. He would have received a fist on his face if he hadn’t been fast enough to step back and avoid it.

  


«Wow, someone sure is tense.» Chan said leaving his bag on the desks lined up at the center before sitting on it.

  


«I just don’t understand what went wrong this time.» the other muttered without looking up from the page he was currently on. Vernon took a glance and saw images of stakes and silver knives, the title of the chapter being “How to repel vampires”, «Are you sure of what you’ve seen, Vernon?».

  


«I find it very difficult to miss the absence of someone’s reflection on a mirror. And Joshua, of course, had it, like any other normal person would.».

  


Junhui abruptly closed the book with a huff, he had a pout on his lips. He almost looked like a kid getting scolded by his mother: «Argh, this is getting super annoying. I don’t think I can do this alone.».

  


«You can’t do what?» Vernon asked crossing his arms behind his head.

  


«My house. Saturday. I need as much help as I can with my researches.» he announced while standing up from the floor with his hands on his hips.

  


«Oh, come on. We’re still going with this thing?» Vernon said in protest but Junhui was out of the door before he could even finish the sentence. He looked desperately at Chan, who in turn simply shrugged.

  


«At least we’ll get free pizza.» he tried with a smile. Vernon let out a sigh with his head hanging down, already dreading the prospect of spending the weekend jumping from one weird site to another and getting headaches over heavy tomes written with the most creative English he had ever seen.

  


  


‹(˅⃝˅)›

  


  


Junhui’s bedroom was the perfect representation of his inhabitant.

  


There was the infamous wall of rosaries – although Vernon noticed the absence of the ones the Chinese boy had brought at school -, then there were all of the posters with old, horror movies – without counting the Titanic one – and then the library full of books and comic books. His collection ranged from Bram Stoker, HP Lovecraft, Mary Shelley to, for some reason, Twilight and The Vampire Diaries. Vernon wasn’t one to judge, he still had the entire collection of the Sailor Moon DVDs, after all. There were also a couple of poetry books written in Chinese and an entire shelf dedicated to action figures and other small toys.

  


Junhui was currently sitting at the desk, surrounded by papers and papers of notes he had taken after consulting various sites of dubious origins and credibility. At this point he was desperate to find literally everything that even simply mentioned the word “vampire”. Chan, on the other hand, was laying on the bed reading one of the research papers Junhui had given him, all of which strictly in Korean. Vernon could tell that the younger was getting interested on the subject, if the fascinated looks and occasional “wow”s were anything to go by. He was glad that the other was actually enjoying his task.

  


Since his Chemistry test was getting nearer and nearer, Vernon had been exempted from all of the research until he had finished his revision.

  


Revision that he had actually completed almost thirty minutes ago, but because he still wasn’t ready to torture his brain with ancient phrasings and nonsensical riddles, he had spent all of this time brushing through the pages of his notebook and daydreaming about next Tuesday. He felt a bit guilty about leaving his other two friends rack their brains over vampire lore, but considering that his mind was in a completely different place and it would have been very difficult for him to concentrate, he was sure his friends would have easily done a better job than him.

  


Junhui put down the pencil and he slouched against the chair: «I need a time out. I’ll go get some orange juice, do you two want something else?» he lowered his neck against the top of the chair so that he was looking upside down at Vernon and Chan.

  


«I’m okay with orange juice.» he answered.

  


«Me too.» Chan added without looking from the paper, «Wow, I didn’t know that so many countries had their own version of vampires…».

  


Junhui disappeared downstairs and Vernon immediately closed his notebook and stretched his arms up to the ceiling. The contented noise coming from his mouth made Chan lift his gaze up: «Oh, have you told _hyung_ that you’ll be in the same club alongside Joshua?».

  


Instead of an answer, Vernon looked elsewhere while rubbing at his nape. The younger narrowed his eyes: «You know that Jun doesn’t like it when we keep things hidden from him.».

  


He felt something brush at his feeth. Vernon looked down and found himself facing a tiny white ball of fluff with a pair of huge cyan eyes and cute rounded face. Serenity was rubbing her face against his ankle, meaning she was looking for cuddles, so he easily picked her up and put her on his lap.

  


«Yeah, but I want to spend some time with him. Just him and I, two normal students and no vampire stuff or secret plan involved.» he said while scratching the cat. He received a purr as a thank you.

  


«You could just tell Jun- _hyung_ that.».

  


Vernon raised his eyebrow: «Because he’s absolutely not going to see it as yet another perfect chance to test his theories, or whatever.».

  


«Okay, but I’m sure that he’ll prioritize your love life over his obsession for the occult.».

  


«It’s not about my love life. Jun needs to realize that he can’t harass people just because he’s convinced that they’re supernatural creatures or whatever delusional thing his brain has made up. There’s a line that he should learn not to cross.».

  


«To be fair, the only thing he has made you do was just talk to him. I’ll agree on the fact that the garlic was a bit excessive, but I wouldn’t call it harassment.».

  


«Not now.» Vernon affirmed, «But I’m sure he’s already thinking of something much worse compared to what we’ve done so far. What happens if he tries to stab him with a stake at school?».

  


«That’s too much, even for Jun- _hyung_. Since when were you this concerned over him? I’m the one who usually worries too much, stop thinking about it and just talk to him. You won’t accomplish anything by talking behind his back.».

  


«Okay, okay, I’ll tell him. Just not now, okay?» Vernon concluded, his tone was final, «Let me have next week and then I’ll them him the truth, I swear. Let me have just have next Tuesday. Please.» his voice got pleading and softer. Serenity raised her tiny head and looked at Chan as if she was trying to back Vernon up.

  


Chan didn’t say anything and just stared at him, until he let out a sigh and Vernon consequently smiled.

  


He didn’t like lying, he was aware that what he was doing wasn’t fair against Junhui, no matter how out of this world his ideas were. But was it too much to ask to spend some time with your crush without a secondary end?

  


Just the next Tuesday and then he would have come clean. He was sure Junhui would understand his choice, maybe he would have been finally convinced that there wasn’t anything wrong with Joshua by the end of the week. Yeah, there wasn’t anything wrong by hiding the truth just for a fragment of time. Everything would be going well.

  


They were interrupted by said senior coming back with his hands occupied by three glasses of juice: «Here comes Junhui Wen Enterprise, the best catering chain of the entire city right at your service.» he made a big scene of bowing and delivering the glasses to its respective owner with a huge smile on his face.

  


A little too huge compared to usual.

  


«Everything okay?» Vernon asked.

  


«Oh- Yeah, it’s nothing.» he didn’t look at them and preferred to take Serenity in his arms and pat her small body delicately.

  


«Are you sure?» Chan frowned.

  


«Yeah, it’s just my mom. She hasn’t stopped pestering me about the new neighbors, even if I told her that we have guests at home right now.» he rolled his eyes with his shrug, «She thinks that I should welcome them in our group since apparently Minghao is the same age as Vernon.».

  


Said junior nodded at the explanation while taking a sip at his juice: «And what about the Korean one?».

  


«Don’t know. He still has to come out of the house. Not even my mom has seen him.».

  


Chan hummed, disappointment evident in his face: «He must be super shy.».

  


«Well, he has to come out eventually. Where would he get food?» Vernon presumed.

  


«Honestly, I don’t care. Maybe Minghao buys stuff for him.» Junhui quickly replied and sat back in front of the desk, letting go of Serenity, «But now let’s focus on more important things than how my neighbor feed themselves.».

  


  


‹(˅⃝˅)›

  


  


«Hey, Vernon!».

  


Tuesday arrived in a flash and when Vernon opened the door of the clubroom after spending an embarrassing amount of time in front of a mirror in the restroom, he found Joshua already inside seemingly waiting for him.

  


«Hi, how are you?» he reciprocated the greeting and left his backpack near the entrance beside the pile of bags of the other students already present.

  


«Fine, thank you. And what about you? How did your test go?» Joshua, as usual, had his cute smile on his face. He was standing next to the window, where the rays of the sun were reflecting on his skin and making his grin look even more bright than usual.

  


«It went a lot better than expected.» he ruffled his hair a bit. Chan had once mentioned that he was one of the few people who looked good with the whole “messy hair” thing going on, so that’s what he tried to do that morning while getting ready, «I didn’t expect you to remember it.».

  


«Last time I saw you, you were trembling like a leaf at the mere mention of it. Of course I would remember it.» Joshua giggled, «I’m glad to see you’re much more relaxed now or I would have been convinced that you lied about me not making you uncomfortable.».

  


«Well, I do pride myself of being an honest person.» He tried not to think about the fact he had been keeping a secret from his best friend for a couple of days now. He was _usually_ an honest person.

  


«Good to know.» Joshua crossed his arms, he was wearing the same cream turtleneck of last week, now devoid of the red stain, «So, how do things work here? Do I just walk around and wait until someone calls me?».

  


«That’s pretty much it. If someone raises an arm, just go there and do what the student needs you to do.» Vernon said as the classroom started filling with people, «Some days we hold debates where all of the transfer students can talk about the topics that they suggest, or we do some games for vocabulary and all that stuff. Today we just have to help them with homework, though.».

  


Joshua moved away from the window: «Lucky me this is a light work day, then?».

  


«Exactly.».

  


Joshua tried to reply, but then Amber, the responsible of the club, called him over, so he gave Vernon a little wave before getting closer to the girl.

  


The next two hours were spent doing, well, what the club required them to do. And without the surprise of anybody, Joshua did an amazing job. He was exactly like Vernon had imagined him to be: patient enough to explain a concept more than once until the student had grasped it, open to help anybody even in the smallest way and he easily went along well with both the transfer students and the tutors. It even came to the point where somebody would call him just to talk with him for a bit before Joshua would gently tell them he couldn’t stay there for long and went to assist someone else.

  


Sometimes, where it seemed nobody needed help, the senior would come and exchange some words with Vernon while waiting for some hand raised.

  


He discovered that Joshua didn’t have a favorite color but he had a preference for green, he played the guitar in his free time and had dyed his hair a multitude of shades. Vernon still remembered the day at school when he had showed up with cotton candy pink hair and how not even the teachers complained about it by how stunning he looked. Vernon might have also walked straight into his locker door that day as soon as he had seen him in the hallway to the delight of both of his friends.

  


On the other hand, he talked about his little sister and how he had lived in Korea for a brief period of time, his love for J.Cole and rapping – to which Joshua consequently asked him to let him hear one of his mixtape one day. Vernon took note in his mind to register a new one as soon as possible.

  


And they continued talking even after they had finished their club business.

  


«So, you’re familiar with Junhui Wen, right?» Joshua asked while grabbing their respective bags from the floor.

  


«Oh. Yes. He’s one of my best friend.» his words came out a little weird. Of course the other noticed it.

  


«Did you two argue or something?».

  


«No, no, we didn’t.» he opened the door of the room so they could both go out, «It’s just that… We don’t always view things in the same way and we sometimes bicker because of it.».

  


That wasn’t exactly what it was going on between them.

  


Since last weekend, Junhui had been quiet. Very, very quiet. Not as in he didn’t talk to him or Chan, but as in he hadn’t mentioned Joshua or the vampire thing whatsoever. Even on Saturday he had dismissed the entire thing with a simple “I’m sure I’ll come up with something, eventually” and they had completely changed the topic afterwards. Clearly there was something going on, but he still couldn’t understand what exactly. He had promised himself to try to coax something out of him after his test and the tutoring club, even if he still had no idea if he would have managed to. Junhui was unfortunately very prone to keep everything to himself instead of sharing it with other people.

  


«Ah, so you’re in that weird state of “I should apologize but I want to see what the other does first”?»

  


It was a bit more complicated than that but it would have been too difficult to explain, so Vernon just agreed with him.

  


«I see. Well, I hope you two will reconcile soon. You seemed very close with one another last time I saw you together.» Joshua said with a reassuring smile.

  


«Yeah, we are. He needs someone to get him out of trouble every time he ends up in one.» Vernon laughed.

  


Joshua laughed as well: «I see. Just out of curiosity, is it true that he’s into occultism or he just likes to cause problems to others?» he then asked.

  


Vernon must have probably pulled a face, because Joshua immediately changed his words: «Sorry, I didn’t want to offend him, or you maybe. I’m really just curious-».

  


«No, you didn’t offend me. I don’t really believe in the same things he believes in.» he clarified, «And yeah, he likes the supernatural and all of that stuff. I’ve tried more than once to talk him out of all that bullshit, but he’s very, very stubborn.» He tried to end the sentence with a joke, expecting Joshua to laugh along. But instead the other simply nodded in silence.

  


In fact, that was the first time he hadn’t smiled back at Vernon. He seemed lost in his thoughts, his gaze focused on whatever his mind was making up and a grimace marrying his feature. It was the complete opposite of his usual happy appearance.

  


_Oh, shit. Don’t tell me I fucked up. Quick, say something!_

«Uhm, do you also believe in the supernatural?» he said hesitantly.

  


And just like a light switch, the smile returned on Joshua’s face: «Oh, just some things, like ghosts and demons. I’m Christian, after all.» he gave a small shrug. The change was so sudden and fast that Vernon could swear the person now talking to him was completely different to the previous one. It was kinda scary to witness. He should have been careful to not make Joshua angry again.

  


«I didn’t know that. I hope you don’t feel insulted, it really wasn’t what I was trying to do.».

  


«It’s okay. As you’ve said before, not everybody believes in the same things, and honestly I’m happy that we don’t share the same view in this aspect.» he continued, for a second that almost concerned look came back, «Tell him to be careful. There’re many, many dangerous things tied to the supernatural, you never know what might happen when someone’s thirst of knowledge becomes… too much.».

  


Vernon genuinely didn’t know what to say after that. He would have never expected Joshua to believe in the same things as Junhui, but at least he seemed a lot more cautious about it compared to the Chinese boy. Not that he could imagine Joshua running around with a crucifix desperately trying to exorcise a poor innocent old lady in the middle of night, that was just something too foreigner, too not-Joshua.

  


Then again, apparently he could change facial expression in the span of a breath and look incredibly creepy with no effort, another thing that he wouldn’t have thought the senior to be capable of, so maybe he should stop make hypotheses over him.

  


«I’ll deliver the message.» he ended up slowly mumbling. Joshua immediately grinned at him.

  


«Perfect. Now, we have to part ways, unfortunately.».

  


Vernon noticed that they had arrived at the school exit and an idea came to his mind. He put the words in his mouth before he could regret them: «Do you live far from here?» he asked a little too quickly.

  


Joshua tilted his head, a knowing smirk on his face: «Do you perhaps want to take me home like the good gentleman you are? I’m very flattered.» he let out a giggle when Vernon blushed a deep red, «Just kidding. I’m actually pretty close to school, but my mum is waiting for me outside. I have an appointment with the doctor and she has to be there.».

  


«Oh, I see. Okay.» he tried to hide the disappointment in his voice, «Maybe next time?».

  


«Yeah. Maybe.» If he had recovered from the flirty comment of before, the wink that followed that sentence sent him once again in tomato mode, «See you soon, Vernon.» he gave him a final smile before walking out of the door.

  


Nobody needed to know that he would have remained there standing for at least a good five minutes, trying to fight down the blush and the scream threatening to leave his throat at the idea of walking Joshua home in the foreseeable future.

  


  


  


‹(˅⃝˅)›

  


  


They saw each other again that Thursday, and then the Tuesday and the Thursday of next week. Unfortunately, he still hadn’t managed to accompany Joshua home, the senior had been busy all of those days, but he was still happy that he got to spend a couple of hours with him.

  


If his meetings with Joshua brought him joy and excitement, however, he couldn’t help but feel guilty every time he saw Junhui hunched over one of his books desperately trying to find something to incriminate Joshua of his not-human status. And Chan knowing looks didn’t make him feel better.

  


He knew that he had broken his promise, he knew that he should have told Junhui of his extracurricular hang outs with Joshua, but he just couldn’t do it. He was terrified that Junhui would force him to do things, or worse, that Junhui would try something himself and that he would convince Joshua that the only reason as to why Vernon had been talking to him in the first place was because of the vampire ordeal.

  


Vernon had noticed something in the past days: there were a lot less people surrounding Joshua. The students that usually spent time with him, his friends and his classmates that were always eager to stay beside him slowly started to disappear. Joshua was still pretty popular, but it almost seemed like the people close to him had started avoiding him. More than once he had caught the other eating alone or just being on his own in general. Maybe that was the reason as to why he always seemed so happy to talk to Vernon at the tutoring club.

  


He wasn’t brave enough to ask him about it or even approach him outside of the club – that would also be blatant proof that he had been spending a lot more time with Joshua that he should have -, leaving that period of time as his only way to hang out with him and possibly cheer him up. Joshua had never seemed bothered by the students keeping their distance from him, but surely he had to be affected by the lack of his friends. And the idea of a sad and alone Joshua was terrible to Vernon.

  


That was why he couldn’t let Junhui ruin what was slowly turning into a friendship and possibly something more. Even if that would mean lie to his best friend and endure Chan’s silent disappointment.

  


«Everything good, Vernon- _hyung_?».

  


Chan’s voice woke him out of his reverie and he found the younger looking at him with concern.

  


«Oh, yeah. I’m okay, just thinking about Mrs. Simmons test.» he pointed at the paper next to his tray of food. His teacher had given them back their Chemistry test and he had scored a decent B, even if his effort alone was worth an A+.

  


Chan gave him a nod and returned to his food. Junhui, once again, was reading, this time a huge tome relegated in blue velvet, his half-eaten bowl of rice and chicken next to him. He had bags under his eyes and his usually sunny and childish demeanor had considerably toned down since the beginning of his mission. He had started coming up with plans again and even tried some of those, like using garlic a second time, this time diluted and put inside of a perfume bottle and spraying around the school, but nothing came of it except students sniffing one another in search for the culprit and the janitor asking for a raise after getting rid of the terrible smell.

  


Then he had tried something new by pretending to drop a bag of seeds in front of Joshua because apparently vampires felt compelled to count them whenever they saw them, but the senior had done nothing more than pick it up again and giving it back with a sweet smile. The look of complete shock and borderline offense on Junhui’s face had been both hilarious and sad to watch.

  


And now here they were in the cafeteria, the Chinese boy in a constant foul mood and Vernon and Chan had no idea how to make him feel better.

  


He felt like a knife was piercing his heart every time his gaze met Junhui’s, the guilt was slowly eating him up. He tried to swallow it down alongside his salad.

  


«Excuse me, can I sit with you?».

  


Vernon turned his head at lightning speed. Standing right next to their table was none other than Joshua Hong, kind smile and deer-like eyes looking at him. Chan had his mouth wide open and his fork suspended in the air while Junhui had finally raised his head from the book and was watching Joshua like a hawk would with his prey. Some of the students sitting close to their tables had started whispering with one another.

  


_What is he doing here?!_

  


Joshua had no idea that Vernon had kept his presence at the tutoring club a secret from his friend, he couldn’t filter his words like him or Chan. Why did he have to come talk to him right now of all times? He had never approached him outside of the club, what had changed?

  


Eventually he managed to break his frozen state: «Uhm- Yeah, sure. If you want.».

  


Joshua nodded as a thank you and occupied the chair next to Junhui, seemingly unaware of the devilish look that the Chinese boy was giving him.

  


«I hope I didn’t disturb your lunch.» he said, specifically looking at Junhui before putting his hand out towards the youngest of the group, «Nice to meet you.»

  


«I’m Chan, nice to meet you too.» he slotted his fingers against the older hesitantly, probably thinking that Joshua would recognize him. However, it seemed that the other didn’t remember him given the lack of reaction.

«You can call me _hyung_ if you want. I’m guessing by the name that you’re Korean?».

  


Chan slowly nodded: «Yeah, I am. Thank you, _hyung_.» Joshua offered him a pretty smile before turning to the Chinese boy.

  


«And we already introduced ourselves, if I remember correctly. How are you, Junhui? You seem a little tired, is everything okay?» Unbelievable. He had met him just once before and he was already worried about Junhui’s worn appearance. Joshua didn’t deserve to live amongside plebeians like them.

  


«It’s fine. Just a stressful… exam.» he vaguely replied. He hadn’t stop staring at Joshua, frankly Vernon would have been bothered by that.

  


«I see. Good luck with it then, I’m sure it’ll go well, just like Vernon’s.» he was eyeing the paper in front of the junior before his eyes moved to the book near Junhui’s elbow, «Oh, is that a copy of the “Vampirepedia”? That sure is very hard to come across these days. Can I see it?» he tilted his head a little, bangs falling over his forehead. Vernon started to feel nervous all of a sudden.

  


For once, Junhui looked at something else other than the senior’s face and directed his gaze to the volume: «Uhm, okay.» he passed the tome over and Joshua eagerly opened it and skimmed over some of the pages.

  


«Wow, this is amazing. See, I’m also interested in the supernatural, you must have heard it from Ver-».

  


Vernon saved himself by fake-coughing out loud. The others at the table immediately focused on him with worried looks – except for Junhui who probably noticed that he was acting -, so he ended his charade with a couple of punches on his chest and a smile: «I’m fine, don’t worry! The food just went inside the wrong pipe.» he awkwardly laughed, even if he was aware that his plate had been empty for a while.

  


Thankfully Joshua seemed to buy his horrible lie: «Be careful, I don’t want to see you choking on the cheap food of the cafeteria.» he took a sip of his thermos – Vernon noticed that he didn’t have a tray with him, he probably must have brought his lunch from home.

  


«I’m sure he would love to choke on something else.».

  


Vernon threw a kick at Chan from under the table, who in turn bit in his cheeks in order not to scream. Thankfully he had only whispered to him that comment, so his reputation was still safe.

  


Suddenly Junhui stood up: «I want an apple.» he explained before walking towards the counter with fruits and other snacks. Strange considering that Junhui usually never ate one after lunch, but Vernon didn’t pay too much attention to that.

  


«For how long have you known each other?» Joshua asked looking back and forth between Chan and him.

  


«We met last year at the tutoring club. He basically taught me almost all of the English language.» Chan replied, Vernon disagreed with an embarrassed noise while rubbing at his nape.

  


«It’s always that place right?» Joshua laughed, «Do you attend some clubs? Basketball or art?».

  


«Well-» Chan began, giving a brief look at his fellow junior before looking back at the senior, «there’s the one that Jun- _hyung_ has founded, the Call Call Call Us club. It’s centered around researching supernatural creatures and all that stuff.» Vernon was shaking his head, a clear order with his eyes, but of course Chan didn’t listen to him, «And you seem interested in those things, so if you want, you can join us.».

  


Joshua hummed, his finger circling around the lid of his thermos: «Interesting. I didn’t know about it. Where’s the classroom?».

  


«Oh, it’s the one on the first floor, near the-».

  


Before Vernon could try to stop Chan from finishing the sentence, he noticed something above their heads. One moment they were calmly conversing and eating their lunch, the next Joshua got completely soaked by a transparent liquid and the two juniors jumped on their feet from the shock. The students around them were staring at the scene with wide eyes and stupefied expressions.

  


And just a couple of meters away there was Junhui, with the same surprised eyes, if not more than them. In his hand, half hidden behind his back, there was a small glass bottle.

  


Vernon immediately recognized that bottle.

  


And it didn’t take too long for him to figure out what he had just done.

  


«Shit- I’m- I’m sorry- I tripped-» Junhui walked over Joshua, but Vernon was there faster and helped him stand up, shielding him from the other.

  


«I’ll take care of it. You can go now, you’ve done more than enough.».

  


«Vernon, I-».

  


« _I said_ , you can go.» His tone didn’t leave room to any argument, Junhui couldn’t do anything other than lowering his head in shame and take a step back. He briefly looked down at the glass container that Junhui was still clutching before grabbing Joshua’s wrist and getting him out of the cafeteria, ignoring the rest of the people watching them and the subsequent rumors that would spark afterwards.

  


He couldn’t believe that Junhui had done it. He couldn’t believe that he had just splashed an entire bottle of holy water against Joshua. And it wasn’t the act in itself that had made him fume in wrath, of course Joshua wouldn’t have turned into a puddle, he was a human being.

  


But it was the intention, it was the idea that Junhui _knew_ what could have happened. He _knew_ that Joshua would have become nothing more than ashes if he was actually, somehow, a vampire. He _knew_ that he would have killed him with that gesture.

  


Even if nothing would have really happened, Junhui still did something that, in his mind, would have hurt Joshua.

  


This time it wasn’t a knife that pierced his chest, it was a gigantic axe.

  


Vernon opened the restroom door with so much force that the door bounced against the wall, a loud _bang_ resonating throughout the empty stalls, but he tried to be as gentle as possible when he tear some toilette paper of from the dispenser and started drying Joshua’s face.

  


«It’s fine, I can do it-» Joshua tried to take the paper from Vernon’s hand, but he easily deflected his fingers and continued dabbing away the liquid. Joshua understood that he wouldn’t have relented, so he just let him.

  


They spent the next minute in silence, Joshua watching Vernon with big eyes and Vernon stubbornly focusing on a point on his cheeks. His anger hadn’t gone away, but now that he wasn’t in the same room as his best friend, he was slowly calming himself down. He wasn’t even bothered by the fact that he was mere centimeters from the object of his desire. Embarrassment and shame were nowhere to be found, only worry and the need to care and protect in their place.

  


The senior’s skin was incredibly cold, probably because of the holy water, but Joshua didn’t seem troubled by it. He then looked at the wet sweater and jeans, he rubbed the paper against the fabric but of course that didn’t help.

  


He sighed, his tone now devoid of any harshness: «I’m sorry.».

  


«I have some spare clothes from soccer, don’t worry-».

  


«I mean, for what Jun did.».

  


Joshua left his mouth hanging open: «Oh. But it’s not your fault and I’m sure Junhui probably just tripped on his feet-».

  


«Still. I’m sorry.» Vernon insisted, but he wasn’t brave enough to look at Joshua’s face, his gaze drawn to the wall behind them.

  


The shame had made its return. However, this time it wasn’t for his crush.

  


But then a pair of frozen hands gently moved over his cheeks and he found himself locking gaze with Joshua. His eyes were so ridiculously round, almost like those of a manga character, but with an insane amount of depth and intensity behind them. The specs of gold intertwined with the brown created a masterpieces of colors and light, no artist could have never portrayed that beautiful contrast of shades. They were simply breathtaking.

  


After all, they belonged to a breathtaking person.

  


«Stop apologizing. It really gets on my nerves.».

  


Vernon blinked: «What?».

  


«You always do that. Apologizing over and over again for things that don’t really matter in the end. Do you know that the more you use a word, the less effective it becomes over time?»

  


«Uhm, I- Well, I’m sorry-».

  


Joshua put his index on his lips to shut him up. Vernon tried very hard not to combust at that: «And then what are you going to do when something serious really happens? The sorry won’t have any meaning after repeating it so many times.» He moved his finger away, Vernon kind of wanted to feel the iciness again on his mouth, «So, instead of apologizing for the things that aren’t your own fault, why don’t you first focus on resolving whatever is going on with your friend?».

  


«Uh?».

  


Joshua narrowed his eyes, a hand on his hip and a raised eyebrow: «A stressful exam? Really? I almost could see the lightings coming out from his eyes. You two never talked it out, haven’t you?».

  


Vernon could feel heat on his cheeks: «N-No, we didn’t.».

  


«So what are you doing here?» the senior moved his hands on Vernon’s shoulders and gave it a light push, «Go, have an emotional talk and get rid of all this tension.».

  


«B-But you-».

  


«I’m two years older than you, I’m perfectly capable of handling myself with some water. I want you out of here and fix whatever is wrong between you and Junhui.» he ordered, his tone imperative and final.

  


And Vernon didn’t exactly know what to say to him.

  


Should he have told him that he was afraid that his relationship with Junhui would have probably ended if he walked out of the restroom? Should he have told him that yes, he was furious with him, but he also didn’t want to argue with the other? Should he have told him that he was buying himself time in order not to face that fatidic moment?

  


Because he knew that something would have happened between them. What Junhui had tried to do was inconceivable in Vernon’s eyes, he had wanted to do something to Joshua, something bad.

  


And he didn’t know if he was capable of forgiving him for trying to hurt an innocent person.

  


But then, what else could he do? Just move on and wait for things to escalate even more?

  


He couldn’t do that. He had to make Junhui realize that he couldn’t repeat the same thing again. He couldn’t let him do whatever he wanted. Not this time.

  


But then what would be of their group? What about Chan? What about all of their memories together? Should he have just erased them from his mind?

  


A knock from the outside made him remember that standing still and get lost in his thoughts wouldn’t have helped in any way. He turned just as the knob rolled.

  


And then Junhui’s face peeked from the door: «Vernon, we have to-».

  


And suddenly all of the anger, the frustration, the annoyance resurfaced like a swollen river. And his decision was taken.

  


«Yeah. We have to.» he cut him off. He gave a brief look at Joshua, who simply nodded as an encouragement, and then followed his best friend outside until they arrived to the CCCU club. They had remained quiet throughout the entire walk, the tautness was palpable and sharp just like the blade of a sword.

  


Whatever would have transpired from their discussion, it was clear that the dynamics between them would have changed.

  


«Why?» was the first word that Vernon said once they were both inside the clubroom. Chan was nowhere to be seen, but he knew he had to be nearby.

  


Junhui chewed on his lips, his gaze directed to his feet: «I know that I acted rashly, but-».

  


«I don’t want your excuses. I want a reason.».

  


«First I want you to know that that was just a spur of the moment-».

  


«A reason, Junhui. I believe you can understand English.».

  


«Let me explain myself first-».

  


«I don’t want to hear it! Why the fuck did you try to hurt Joshua?!».

  


Junhui finally looked at his face, surprise marrying his features. Vernon wasn’t usually the type to snap like that, but this wasn’t the typical situation they would face every day. This was something completely new to them.

  


And Junhui was aware of that too: «Fine. I did it because I don’t know what else to do. I did it because I’m desperate to prove to you just how dangerous Joshua could be.».

  


«For how long do you want to go along with your vampire theory? Didn’t you get proved wrong more than enough?».

  


«Because I know that he’s not like us. I just _know_ that there’s something not okay with, something not human.».

  


«Okay, so you know it.» If Junhui was too blind to realize just how delusional he was, then it was Vernon job to show it to him, «But can you prove it? What do you have against him?» he leaned back against one of the desks with his arms crossed.

  


Junhui quickly pulled out his phone and showed him a photo. The main subject was what looked like some sort of bar-like establishment, the neon words “Seventeen Host Club” shining bright on the front. The picture had clearly been taken from behind a bush, if the leaves and small branches around the frame were anything to go by, but he could still see the entrance and the group of people right in front of it, although all of their faces were unclear and blurry. It was impossible to distinguish with clarity who was who.

  


«Okay, what does this prove?» Vernon raised an eyebrow.

  


Junhui pointed at one of the people of the photo: «That’s Joshua.».

  


«What- What are you saying?».

  


«I’ve been following him after school for almost two weeks and every single time, instead of going at his house, he went here doing God knows what. And no, Chan doesn’t know anything, I did all of this alone.»

  


Vernon narrowed his eyes: «Excuse me, you did what this time?».

  


«I knew you would react like this, that’s why I didn’t tell you anything.» he rolled his eyes.

  


«Maybe because stalking is, I don’t know, creepy and disgusting?».

  


«Because having someone who prefers blood over food attending the tutoring club alongside you is perfectly okay and safe.».

  


Vernon felt his heart drop inside of him.

  


How did Junhui knew about it? Was it Chan’s fault? He had to be, nobody else knew about it and Joshua hadn’t mentioned it at the table.

  


«I overheard you two that Saturday.» came Junhui’s counterattack, «By the way, thanks for talking behind my back. Truly not a sneaky thing to do.».

  


«Jun-».

  


«At first I decided to not do anything. You would have told me, eventually, because that’s what best friends do, right? They tell each other stuff, regardless of their hobbies. Certainly they don’t hide things because they’re too scared to face the other.».

  


Now it was Vernon’s turn to lower his head, his fingers curling in fists at his sides. So that was why he had been so quiet in the past days.

  


«But then the week went by and you didn’t say a thing. Maybe you just needed a bit more time, so I gave it to you. And then another week passed and still nothing. Clearly, my expectations were too high.».

  


«And if I told you what would you have done? Force me to throw holy water against Joshua and hope I would kill him?».

  


Junhui gritted his teeth: «I told you that was reckless on my part. And it wouldn’t have killed him-».

  


«But hurting him is still something for you, isn’t it?».

  


«Guys, that’s enough!».

  


They both turned to the entrance once they realized Chan had entered inside of the room. He seemed to be fighting a war with himself, probably thinking who was in the right and who in the wrong or simply because he hated watching his friends argue with one another.

  


«You won’t accomplish a thing by yelling at one another, so can you two please just calm down and discuss like two normal, civil people?».

  


«I find it really difficult to do that when we’re arguing over the fact that a nineteen-year-old student might be a vampire or not.».

  


«Oh, fuck you, Vernon. I told you I can prove my point.».

  


Vernon raised his eyebrows, expecting for said proof to pop up. Junhui, again, showed him the screen of his phone and Vernon almost grabbed him by the neck: «What’s that supposed to prove? First, I don’t know what a host club is-».

  


«It’s a popular thing in Korea.».

  


Vernon threw a glare at Chan, who in turn raised his arms: «Calm down, I’m just giving you an explanation.» he said, «Basically it’s a place where rich old guys, or ladies, go to drink and get entertained by pretty people. It’s similar to a brothel, only the hosts and hostesses aren’t actual prostitutes, they just need to talk to the clients and make them buy as much alcohol as they can.».

  


Vernon turned to the Chinese boy again: «So now I find it even more difficult to believe that the one in the photo is Joshua.».

  


Junhui’s frown deepened even more: «I followed him here, of course I would know that that’s Joshua.».

  


«Why would he go to a host club, of all places? He isn’t rich nor he would need to work there.» At least Vernon hoped so, the idea of the pretty senior sitting beside sweaty old CEOs or slimy loaded women sounded so wrong and nonsensical that he found more believable for him to actually be a supernatural creature instead of working there.

  


«Do you know what people say on the Seventeen?» Junhui suddenly asked.

  


Vernon stopped the retort ready on his tongue and looked in confusion at the other: «What does that have anything to do with all of this?».

  


«Everything, actually.» Junhui affirmed, determination strong in his tone, «The Seventeen is not like your typical host club. In fact, nobody really knows a lot about that place and the few news that I found were confusing and pretty vague. But there’s one thing clear.».

  


Junhui paused and looked again at the device in his hand, quickly typing something on the screen, and then he turned it back for Vernon to see. He slid his finger through the several tabs open, they were all the strange sites that his friend usually visited for info or sightings of abnormal phenomena. And they were all talking about the same topic.

  


  


_ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW ON THE SEVENTEEN HOST CLUB: DO VAMPIRES OWN THAT PLACE?_

_THE BLONDE BLOODSUCKER: REPORT ON THE OWNER OF THE SEVENTEEN_

_RECENTLY SPOTTED VAMPIRES GOING INTO THE SVT HOST CLUB_

  


«So what are you saying is that the Seventeen is filled with vampire workers?» Vernon hadn’t noticed that Chan had moved from his spot in front of the door to right next to him.

  


Junhui nodded vehemently: «And, as you can see, there’s tons of people who are telling the same thing. Therefore, it seems logical to me to suspect that Joshua is a vampire, or that he at least interacts with them on a daily basis.».

  


«Logical? _This_ is logical to you?!» Vernon gestured at the phone, «Are you expecting me to believe that forums are a reasonable source to base your assumptions?».

  


«But there’s countless people who I’ve talked that said the same things.»

  


«Did they now?».

  


«Guys, _please_ -» Chan tried.

  


«Oh, so now I’m the liar?».

  


«I mean, considering that you’ve claimed to be desperate for this vampire thing.».

  


«Are you saying that you don’t trust me?» Junhui took a step towards him. His height combined with his pissed off expression, a far cry from his sunny and mischievous demenaour, made him quite intimidating, but Vernon wasn’t going to back down.

  


«You’ve lost that right the moment you’ve decided that it was okay to hurt Joshua.».

  


«Wha- Fucking hell, Vernon! I know you’ve been thirsting over his ass for ages, but could you please start thinking with your brain instead of your dick?».

  


«I- Me?! _I_ should be the one to use my brain?!» Vernon would have almost laughed out loud if he hadn’t been so furious, «Okay. Let’s do what you want. When was that picture taken?».

  


«Please, stop fighting-».

  


«No, Chan. If he wants me to use my brain, let’s do that.» Vernon said, «When did you take the photo?».

  


«The first day I started following him. Two Tuesdays ago.» Junhui promptly answered.

  


«Good.» Vernon felt himself smile. If Junhui insisted on using logic, then he just had to dismantle his argument with logical facts, «Then I can easily say that the one in the picture isn’t Joshua.».

  


«What?».

  


«Two Tuesdays ago I was with Joshua and he clearly told me he had an appointment with his doctor. His mother was outside waiting for him.».

  


Junhui didn’t say anything for a second before he pressed on: «Did you see her?».

  


«No, I just walked with him to the door, but I’m sure she was there.».

  


«So you believe him and not your best friend?».

  


«What reason would he have to lie to me?».

  


«Maybe because he didn’t want you to know that he was going to a vampire coven?».

  


Vernon covered his face with both hands: «Junhui, I swear to God, if you mention vampires one more time-».

  


«Why can’t you just believe me? I’m not trying to trick you or anything else, why is it so hard to listen to me?».

  


« _Because this doesn’t make any sense!_ » Vernon exploded. Every single thing that he had thought about Junhui’s obsession, his chagrin, everything that he had bottled up just came out, «This mission, this club, this fanaticism you have, nothing of this makes sense! When will you realize that all of this is nothing more than delusional? When will you realize that vampires, werewolves or whatever shit you’re so sure is real are nothing more than the delusional thoughts of a sad, lonely child who refuses to grow up? When will you stop dragging me and Chan in all of this fucking bullshit?!».

  


After that outburst, silence fell over the clubroom, the distant chatter of the students outside and the clicks of the clock hands that signaled the resume of the lessons were the only things that dared to break the quietness. Chan was standing there, his mouth wide open and his pupils going back and forth between the pair in front of him. Vernon was panting, as if he had just ran the longest marathon of his life instead of pouring everything that he had inside of him. And Junhui-

  


Junhui looked like a ghost.

  


«Is this what you think of me, then?».

  


And Vernon, who finally had let go of all of the anger and tension, only then realized what had come out of his mouth. And now the anger was substituted by regret: «I-I-».

  


«Okay. I understand.» Junhui lowered his head, probably trying to hide the glossy eyes but his tone didn’t waver. He was taller than him, but he managed to look so small, «Then, I guess even our friendship doesn’t make sense.».

  


« _Hyung_ , wait, no-» Chan moved in front of the Chinese boy and tried to meet his eyes, but he didn’t look up.

  


«Do you also think that, Chan? Am I that pathetic even for you?» Despite the aggressive tone, it was clear he was trying to keep in the tears.

  


«No, you’re not-».

  


A broken laughter came out: «Of course I must be. Nothing more than a burden to carry around, right? Just like Dad used to say.».

  


And that was the final nail in the coffin. That was when Vernon realized that he had gone too far with his words. The implication that Junhui had just made was… terrifying.

  


This was why he hadn’t wanted to confront the other. This was why he was always careful to hold back whenever he talked with his beloved ones. Because he was afraid that he would say the wrong thing and ultimately hurt them.

  


And even if he wanted to apologize, he wanted to stop Junhui from walking away from him, the words didn’t come out from his mouth. He was frozen by the guilt and shame.

  


And so, despite Chan’s pleas, Junhui didn’t spare them a single glance, packed all of his stuff and got out of the room, the door violently slammed against the wall before closing. No words, no looks, nothing at all.

  


Vernon tried his hardest not to fall and break down in tears. The thread of their friendship that had become so thin, so vulnerable had finally snapped. And he had been the one to wield the scissors.

  


  


  


‹(˅⃝˅)›

  


  


There was a stain on the ceiling of Vernon’s bedroom. Or rather, there was a group of stains.

  


During last summer, Junhui had become obsessed with ghosts and spirits that were incapable of disappearing from Earth – or just “move on”, as the Chinese boy had said -. Most of these were people who had died and left something unfinished behind, a regret, something that they were ashamed of. And those spirits usually turned into evil entities. Since they couldn’t escape from Earth and neither could they find solace in their torment, they inevitable succumbed to the pain and hate and decided to hurt whoever tried to cross their paths. And since Junhui didn’t want his friends to die by the end of an incredibly enraged ghost, he had painted what he had called a repellent seal inside of their respective bedrooms. They were capable of keeping the bad influences away since no spirit could break it unless an actual person tampered with it.

  


That was the reason as to why Vernon’s mother had found them one day surrounded by spray cans, full of paint on their clothes because Chan had “accidentally” sprayed Vernon on his face and had begun a war of colors.

  


That had to be one of his most treasured memories ever, and no matter the amount of scolding he had received afterwards, he would have done it again and again.

  


Looking at the stain now, though, Vernon just wanted to throw up.

  


The door of his room opened and Chan quietly entered, two glasses of water in his hands. After Junhui had gone somewhere unknown, the younger had immediately drifted to his fellow junior and tried to cheer him up, telling him that everything would have been okay, that they would have eventually reconciled and that this was just a small obstacle to their friendship.

  


Vernon didn’t have the guts to tell him that he didn’t agree with those statements.

  


«Here.» he said passing one glass to Vernon while trying not to step over the wires on his music equipment. His parents always told him that if a place where mess and disorder were the norm existed, he would have probably been its ruler.

  


Vernon begrudgingly sat up and drank all of it. All of this without looking at Chan not even once.

  


« _Hyung_. I’m here. Don’t ignore me, please.» the younger was probably pouting at him with his best puppy eyes, but he couldn’t bring himself to cross gaze with him.

  


«I’m an asshole. I know you’re dying to say that.».

  


«Absolutely, but now you need me to say that it’s not too late to fix all of this.» Chan replied with the slightest of bite in his tone.

  


«Yeah, I wish. Junhui must be convinced that I’m no better than his father.» He laid down again and turned to his side so that Chan was now looking at his back. Maybe that would have helped him hide all of the shame currently swimming in his stomach.

  


  


But Chan had other plans because he grabbed him by his hoodie and turned him around: «His father is a piece of shit that left his wife and son without as much as a word to them. You’re not like that.».

  


«He thinks that I think of him as a burden, which is what his father believed him to be.».

  


«Do you _actually_ think that he’s a burden?».

  


Vernon for the first time turned to face him: «Of course not! He would never be one.».

  


«Then you should run to his house, knock at the door and tell him exactly these words, not mope around like a sixteen year old who just broke with his boyfriend after two weeks.».

  


«Aren’t you insulting yourself?».

  


«I’m the first to admit that sixteen year old people are stupid and all of that, but you get what I mean.».

  


Vernon grumbled and lifted his back from the bed: «But he probably doesn’t want to see me. Not now or never.».

  


«You don’t know that.».

  


«Of course I know that. I know how he is, he’s probably wandering inside of a forest looking for trouble, I’m sure he would rather get attacked by a vampire instead of talking to me right now.».

  


Chan rolled his eyes: «You’re exaggerating. I’m sure he’s at home, waiting for your apology, kiss and make up and become friends once again.».

  


«Chan, I-» he sighed, «I don’t think that’s going to happen.».

  


«Of course he’ll forgive you-».

  


«It’s not him, it’s me.» Vernon shook his head in defeat, «What I said was absolutely out of line, but he still tried to do something to Joshua. And if he doesn’t have any intention to apologize, then-» he didn’t need to finish the sentence.

  


Chan let out his breath: «C’mon, it’s Jun-hyung we’re talking about, the one who always brings food to stray cats and is incapable of hurting a fly. I’m sure he regrets what he did.».

  


Vernon tried to say something back, but the sound of the doorbell interrupted them. They both looked at each other in confusion. Vernon wasn’t expecting guests, Sofia was sleeping with a friend and his parents were visiting his mom’s relatives back in her hometown. Who would knock at his door at eleven p.m. unannounced?

  


«We should see who is it.» Vernon was the first one to stand up, but Chan’s hand on his sleeve stopped him.

  


« _Hyung_ , I have a bad feeling on this.».

  


Vernon looked at the stairs leading downstairs before looking back at the younger. He was on the same page as Chan, but he didn’t want to scare him any further: «I’m sure nothing is going to happen, but in any case I have the police on speed dial.».

  


Chan still wasn’t convinced, but he eventually followed Vernon until they found themselves in front of the entrance. Whoever was behind it had ringed the bell three times already, they knew that the house wasn’t empty and that wasn’t helping Vernon nerves.

  


But he still grabbed the knob and turned it without hesitating.

  


And almost couldn’t believe at the sight in front of him.

  


«J-Joshua- _hyung_?».

  


Joshua was indeed the one who had rang the bell. He was also wearing a shirt that was supposed to be white but it was so dirty that it had almost turned to brown and red. And his entire face was stained in blood, especially the area around the mouth.

  


And he wasn’t alone.

  


« _Jun_!».

  


Vernon snapped out of his frozen state once he realized that the figure slumped over Joshua’s shoulder was his best friend. Who was bleeding from his hip.

  


He rushed to his side and put his free arm around his shoulder, helping Joshua to carry him inside.

  


«I’ll go get the first aid kit!» Chan ran up the stairs as the other two put Junhui down on the couch. He was unconscious and his shirt torn on his waist, a gash profusely bleeding was visible. The sandwich he had eaten a couple of hours ago was threatening to come out, but he swallowed it down and tried to remain calm. Now it wasn’t the time to freak out.

  


«Why are you here? What happened?» he asked to Joshua, who refused to meet his gaze.

  


«I’m sorry. You weren’t supposed to get involved, but he suddenly showed up, and then he got attacked and I couldn’t let them drain him and so I fought, but then I got scared because he wouldn’t stop bleeding and I couldn’t go to an hospital-».

  


Vernon couldn’t stand watching a clearly distressed Joshua, so he grabbed his upper arms and lightly shook him: «Hey, calm down. It- Now you’re safe, everything’s fine.» he tried to reassure him. For some reason Joshua still kept his head low.

  


«You don’t understand. I put all of you in danger and I’m so sorry but there was nowhere else to go-».

  


He grabbed his face as gently as he could, trying to ignore all of the blood and just how cold the other was.

  


«Joshua. Breathe.».

  


But Joshua tried to step back, he put his hands over Vernon’s to move them back but he wasn’t going to let go. He didn’t know why he was so adamant to not look at him.

  


«Joshua, please- I don’t want to hurt you-».

  


«Stay away. Please, don’t look at me.».

  


«Joshua, you’re full of blood. You might be hurt. Just- Stay still for a second-».

  


« _No_!» he managed to get away, but in doing so he raised his head and Vernon saw it.

  


His eyes. They weren’t the usual warm brown that he was so used to.

  


They were a vibrant gold.

  


Those weren’t the eyes of a human.

  


And then he noticed the fangs that were too long for a human peeking from his upper lip.

  


Joshua didn’t look human.

  


He looked like-

  


«Y-You’re actually a vampire?»

  


Joshua looked to be on the verge of a panic attack. His eyes, _yellow eyes_ were glossy and a trickle of blood was coming out from the corner of his mouth. He looked like he had just stepped out of a set for a movie horror.

  


And that the moment where Chan returned with the first aid kit and Vernon remembered that his best friend was gradually losing his life on the couch of his living room.

  


_One thing at a time_.

  


«Give it to me.» he kneeled next to Junhui and fished out a bottle of disinfectant and cotton pads, «Get me some wet towels. Joshua, I need you to remove his shirt.»

  


«W-What?» Confusion coated his tone while Chan ran to the bathroom.

  


«I can’t do this alone and I trust you not to kill him considering you brought him here.».

  


He didn’t know what was happening behind him, he was too focused on cleaning Junhui’s wound, but eventually he felt Joshua joining his side and tear Junhui’s shirt open just with his bare hands. Not too long after Chan returned with a wet towel.

  


«Chan, don’t freak out but I’ve just discovered that Joshua is a vampire-».

  


«He’s what?!».

  


«-but the good news is that Jun won’t be dying tonight.» Now that there wasn’t as much blood as before, the wound looked a lot better than he had first imagined, «It’s not that deep, luckily. No need for stitches.» Vernon heard Joshua let out a ragged breath in relief at that.

  


After a bit more of cleaning and securing a bandage around the injury, Vernon finally felt he could breath normally again and leaned back against the table in front of the couch. Junhui was soundly asleep, chest slowly going up and down and puffs of air softly coming out of his mouth. There was all the red liquid on the couch and the small trail that he had formed by dragging Junhui into the living room that would need to be taken care of, but right now he just wanted to lie down and pretend that this was all a dream from which he would have soon woken up.

  


Of course things would never be that easy.

  


«So…» Chan, who had been quietly standing behind the couch, opened his mouth, « _Hyung_ , you’re a vampire. You’re an actual vampire.» he repeated, as if he was trying to convince himself.

  


Now that he wasn’t rushing to save Junhui’s life, Vernon finally focused on Joshua, who apparently had managed to calm down a bit since his eyes were now back to brown and not glowing anymore, but once Chan spoke, his muscles became tense once again.

  


With all of the blood coating his face and the long, sharp fangs, he should have been terrifying, hideous, monstrous, but he truly wasn’t.

  


Not with that look in his eyes and the curled up position on the floor that made him incredibly small. And despite all of the blood, he still looked beautiful and delicate, nowhere close to all of the drawings and pictures that Vernon had seen. It was almost as if he was the one facing a vampire instead of being one.

  


Joshua was supposed to be something scary, something alien and inhuman, and Vernon should be frightened by him.

  


But he wasn’t. He couldn’t be.

  


_One thing at a time_.

  


«Don’t worry. We just want you to talk to us.» he said.

  


«B-But I-».

  


«It’s okay. We just want an explanation, right Chan?».

  


Chan looked definitely a lot more on edge than him, maybe that was the reason as to why he hadn’t moved from his original position behind the couch, using the furniture as some sort of barrier, afraid that Joshua could have jumped him or something. But he also knew that Chan trusted him.

  


So, begrudgingly, the younger slowly nodded, trying not to look as agitated as he actually was.

  


Joshua blinked, his gaze quickly moving between the two, but after Vernon gave him another encouraging grin, he finally relaxed: «Okay. You deserve one.».

  


He wiggled a little so that he could cross his legs and be more comfortable and then he started talking: «I wasn’t always a vampire. In fact, I was just your average high school student. Nothing about me was particularly remarkable, honestly I don’t know how I became so popular considering that the only exceptional things about me are being good at singing and playing soccer. I’m really not that special.».

  


Vernon would have disagreed with him but he didn’t want to interrupt.

  


«But then one day, as I was getting home from school, everything changed. One minute I was walking home at seven p.m. after soccer practice, and then the next one someone grabs me and bites my neck. At first I didn’t understand what was going on, but then, once I realized it that I was being attacked by a vampire, I tried to fight back, to do something, but my body wouldn’t move, no matter how much I willed it to. For the first time in my life, I felt completely defenseless. I was just there, immobile and slowly losing all of my blood.

  


«And then he just left me there without a word, barely alive inside of an alley in the middle of the night with no hope whatsoever to survive. I was so terrified that he would come back, that he would finish the job or make everything even more painful than it already was that I couldn’t scream, not even a peep. I started wondering if this is how my death was supposed to go, if my gateway for the afterlife was this, laying on the street in a puddle of my blood and dying slowly and painfully by the hands of a vampire. I… The only thing I could do was pray, pray that everything would end soon.».

  


Vernon easily caught on the underlying meaning of that sentence immediately and couldn’t help but shiver.

  


«And then, suddenly, someone else comes. I didn’t know if I was lucky or not, if that person would put me out of my misery or walk away and leave me, but he did neither of those things. Instead he asked a question:

  


_“Do you still want to live?”_

  


«And at first I wanted to say no. The pain was so much, I knew that I was a lost cause and that no doctor could have saved me in that condition. But then I suddenly got scared, I got scared of death, of leaving behind all the people that I cared about. I just- I didn’t want to die anymore. I wanted to live, I was desperate to live, to walk, to just breathe. And so, I said yes. And then that person gave me this smile. This sweet, kind smile, the kind that tells you that everything is going to be okay. And then he kneeled down, told me to “ _Hang on, hang on as much as you can_ ” and then bit me in the same, exact spot.».

  


While Joshua was narrating, his hand slowly went to his sweater, lowered the collar and there it was. On the side of his neck, clear as day, a bite mark. It was pinkish, with tiny little blue veins around the four holes, similar to a scar but still not quite like that, a mark of the point of no return, the sign that Joshua would no longer be like them.

  


«I spent almost a week suffering, wandering between unconsciousness and consciousness, sometimes wishing to wake up and other times to just die from the pain. And then, suddenly, everything stopped. I woke up and just- I was a vampire. Just like that.».

  


Both Vernon and Chan stared at him, incapable of uttering even the tiniest of the sound. Vernon would have never imagined that Joshua had to go through so much, that he had been keeping this big of a secret from probably every single person that he knew. And even if he did tell them, what could they have done? There was nothing they could do to help him. Joshua couldn’t return to be a human, but also he couldn’t live like he used to. What were his thoughts, his feelings, what choices did he take, what sacrifices did he made?

  


All of this would be overwhelming for every a normal person, but for an eighteen year old kid? Everything would have been even worse.

  


Suddenly Vernon realized that behind the gentle and bright smile that Joshua always showed to everybody concealed so many things. He had managed to fool all of them.

  


He couldn’t stand that pregnant silence anymore.

  


«I’m guessing that this happened last year when you disappeared.» he urged the other to continue.

  


Joshua hummed: «I spent many, many months trying to withstand my thirst. Unfortunately animal blood doesn’t have enough nutrients for us to survive, we can only drink the human one. I couldn’t walk around school and possibly risk to attack someone, so I decided to just withdraw for the time being and train with Jeonghan.».

  


«Jeonghan?» Chan asked. He had moved from his original position and was now sitting on the couch.

  


«The one who saved me. He offered me his house and his help in order to learn to live again among humans. He’s done this many times before, I’m not the only vampire that he has brought in. I guess you could say the Seventeen is some sort of orphanage for stray, newly-turned vampires».

  


«The Seventeen as in the Seventeen Host Club?».

  


Joshua nodded: «Jeonghan’s the owner. He told me that I could work there if I wanted to, only after I turned at least twenty-one even if that doesn’t make any sense considering that I can’t age anymore, but whatever. All of the hosts and hostesses there are vampires, but many of our clients are humans, although we try to hide our non-humanness from them.».

  


Vernon’s mind flashed to that Tuesday so long ago. Clearly, Joshua had lied to him, Junhui had really caught him going into the Seventeen. The guilt that had been already piled up increased even more.

  


«Do you want to work there?».

  


«No. At least, not now and definitely not as a host. I don’t think I’m cut for that line of work, even if Jeonghan always tells me that I would be super popular.» Joshua rubbed at his nape, «But no, I want to finish high school and possibly go to college. I know it’s stupid for me to hope to live like a human again-».

  


«No, it isn’t.» Chan abruptly cut him off, «Sorry, _hyung_ , I didn’t want to interrupt you, but I don’t think that’s a stupid thing to do. Honestly, I think you’re incredibly brave for trying to pursuit a normal life even after… everything.».

  


Joshua looked at him in disbelief, before the corners of his lips slightly went up: «Thank you for saying that. My parents weren’t exactly of the same idea.».

  


Vernon frowned: «Do they know that you’re a vampire too?».

  


«Well, once I decided that I wanted to go back to school, of course I had to tell them. They were convinced that I had disappeared and died, what would have they said if my teachers had called and told them that I had magically reappeared?» he chuckled, «And I didn’t want to hide from them, it wouldn’t have been fair. So, one day I showed up to their place and told them all of this. Let’s just say that they didn’t exactly welcomed me back with open arms.».

  


«What did they say?».

  


Joshua shrugged: «Kind of what I expected. That I wasn’t their son, that they refused to help me get back my life and that I could go die in a ditch for all that they cared. Eventually I managed to convince them to at least make me finish high school and then I would have never bothered them again. They said yes and then they kicked me out, alongside my clothes and stuff, and ordered me to stay away from them.».

  


«I’m so sorry, Joshua.» Vernon said.

  


«It’s okay. I knew that it would have happened, Jeonghan was already outside of the house, waiting to bring me back to the Seventeen, to my new home. And since then I’ve lived there.».

  


Joshua spoke casually of this, as if they had been discussing what they had eaten for breakfast. But, since apparently Joshua was a superb actor, he wondered if this was how he truly felt or if he was still hiding something from them.

  


He didn’t say anything, though. He didn’t want to burden him even more. After all, today he had the proof that his thoughts should have remained in his head only, not if he wanted to lose the small friendship they had started establishing.

  


So, as usual, he pushed the worry down and settled for a light pat to Joshua’s shoulder.

  


«So, now that we’ve covered your backstory-» he looked at a still asleep Junhui, «could you tell us what happened to him?».

  


«I don’t know all of the details. He just suddenly showed up at the Seventeen, demanding to talk me and accusing me of manipulating you.» he gestured with his head to Vernon, «We discussed for some time before Jeonghan got tired of it, forced Junhui out and called it a day. I, however, wasn’t finished with him. I wasn’t going to just stand there and let him accuse me, I figured something had happened between you two so I wanted to try to salvage the situation a little.» He let out a huff, «Unfortunately I wasn’t the only vampire going after him.».

  


Vernon felt himself going rigid.

  


«Many types of creatures go to the Seventeen as a gathering place, including vampires who think that the clients are also their personal blood bags. Jeonghan tries to keep them at bay, but especially recently it’s getting harder and harder.» Joshua hands curled into fists, «There were these three girls, they had seen Junhui more than once, he can hide behind bushes as much as he wants but he can’t block the smell of his blood. And so, once he was alone, they tried to jump him. Thankfully I wasn’t too far and I stopped them in time. We fought but then one of them hit Junhui, so I attacked as well and managed to injure her. And only then I realized who I had just antagonized.».

  


Vernon felt himself getting even more nervous: «Who were they?».

  


«They’re part of Joohyun’s coven, one of the oldest vampires living in this city. And me injuring their youngest and newest addition to the group isn’t exactly the smartest thing to do. I’m sure they’re already looking for me somewhere else.».

  


«But you just did it in order to defend Jun- _hyung_! It was their fault from the beginning.».

  


«Yes, but who do you think Joohyun is going to believe? Me or her own companions?».

  


«Let me get this straight.» Vernon let out a breath, «You hurt a member of a coven that belongs to a very dangerous, very powerful vampire and now they’re looking for you in order to avenge her?».

  


Joshua had an incredibly apologetic look: «I’m sorry for bringing you into all of this. I couldn’t take him back to the Seventeen since they would have immediately followed us, I had to find a new place and you were the first one that came to my mind. I’m very sorry for putting all of you in danger because of me.».

  


«You were in a hurry, it’s okay. Kind of. More or less.» Vernon affirmed. He wasn’t exactly happy about the turn of events, but he much preferred to possibly acquire a target on his back rather than have two people he cared a lot for to get killed.

  


The night was taking a turn he would have never imagined it would have taken. First Junhui’s injury, Joshua’s secret and now this. It all sounded like a plot from a very cheesy movie that Vernon had never signed up for, but here he was.

  


«Uhm, sorry for the change of topic-» Chan said, «but how did you know that _hyung_ lived here? You never visited his house, right?».

  


Joshua suddenly flinched, his glaze shifting to his feet: «I know this is going to sound weird, but I- I followed Vernon’s scent.».

  


«Y-You followed my what?» Now it was Vernon’s turn to be embarrassed.

  


«Well, the thing is that your blood has a-uhm, how do I put this- it has a very distinctive smell. I noticed it the first time we met, you smell really good. I-I mean, your blood smells good! Not you, of course not you, I would be strange to say that, I was referring to your blood obviously!» he ended the sentence with a chuckle.

  


« _Hyung_ , I think he wants to drink from you.».

  


«N-No! I do not! I only drink from blood bags that come from hospitals, not from people.».

  


«Technically the blood of blood bags comes from them, so you are drinking from people.».

  


Joshua threw a glare at Chan. The other was obviously keeping his laugh in.

  


«There’s no need to be embarrassed.» Vernon promptly said, «I mean, I can’t control the scent of my blood and you can’t exactly turn your nose off. It’s okay, really.».

  


Of course that didn’t appease Joshua nor Chan in any way, so he tried with something else: «Y-You can sleep here if you want. I’m guessing it’s better for you to stay away from the Seventeen for a bit, so why don’t you just remain here for the night?».

  


That didn’t help much, if the knowing smirk on Chan’s face was anything to go by.

  


«In the guest room, of course. Chan will be delighted to give the bed to you, am I right?».

  


«Why? I’m sure he doesn’t mind sharing yours, right?».

  


«Please, my bed is small, he would be very uncomfortable.».

  


«You could always sleep _very_ close to one another.».

  


«Don’t be ridiculous, Chan» he gave him the fakest smile he was capable of mustering.

  


_I swear one day I’m going to impale you if you don’t shut your mouth, you little shit._

«Guys, there’s no need for that.» Joshua entered the conversation by waving his hands around, «My main source of energy is blood, sleep for me is more of a waste of time than anything else. I can stay awake here and maybe keep watch of Junhui.».

  


«I don’t want you to spend the night in the living room. You would be uncomfortable-».

  


«Isn’t it a little creepy that he wants to watch Jun- _hyung_ sleep Edward Cullen-style?».

  


«No, no, no, I wasn’t planning to do that.» Joshua clarified, «I can watch a movie or read a book, of course I’m not going to stare at him the entire time. Also, I don’t want to kick Chan out of the guest room, where would he go sleep then?».

  


«In his house?» Vernon swiftly replied, followed by Chan’s protests.

  


«I’m still worried for Jun- _hyung_! I want to be here when he wakes up.».

  


«Are your parents okay with that?».

  


«Don’t bring them in the conversation!».

  


«Vernon, it’s fine, really.» The warm smile finally graced Joshua’s features once again, «You’ve already been extremely kind by just permitting me to spend the night here. Don’t worry.».

  


He hated the fact that it took him a second too long to respond, that smile was incredibly dangerous: «Are you sure?».

  


«Absolutely.».

  


The only thing he could do was hum: «Alright. But let me at least get you a blanket. You’re freezing.» He was in the middle of standing up when Joshua immediately began to dissuade him.

  


«My body temperature has lowered since I’ve become a vampire. I’m not really feeling cold.».

  


«Oh, come on, stop refusing everything that I offer you. I just want to take care of you.».

  


His brain didn’t fully process that sentence until he uttered it out loud and by consequence he felt warmth all over his face. Chan didn’t even try to block his laughter this time, loud cackles spreading for the entire living room and somehow Junhui didn’t wake up. Meanwhile Joshua simply blinked back at him and then, with the tiniest of the smirks, he proceeded to say: «Oh. I’m not going to oppose to that then.».

  


Vernon could only escape upstairs and find refuge in his bedroom. Once he was safe inside, he slowly slid along the door until he was sitting and then hid his face in his hands and tried very hard not to launch himself from the window.

  


_Joshua Hong will be the death of me._

  


  


‹(˅⃝˅)›

  


  


Vernon awoke next morning and once he realized the sun was up in the sky, he quickly grabbed his phone. When he saw the hour displayed on the screen, he leaped out of bed and almost tripped on the t-shirt abandoned on the floor. He was supposed to wake up at seven to check upon Junhui and Joshua, but he had ended up sleeping for three additional hours.

  


In his defense, it was a Saturday.

  


Vernon tried to not fall over the stairs and finally reached the living room while putting on a shirt, however he found the room to be empty. The blood was still there, but both Junhui and Joshua were nowhere to be seen, the only sign of the vampire presence being the blue blanket on one of the armchairs. He was starting to get worried but then he heard a loud, excited voice coming from the kitchen and let out a breath.

  


«-and so that’s why nothing happened. That’s so cool!».

  


«Well, that’s just how vampires work.».

  


Vernon’s eyes first found Joshua sitting on the table, a mug with what looked to be tea fuming next to him. And on the other side-

  


«Jun! I’m glad to see you awake.» he instantly felt energized once he his gaze met his best friend, «How do you feel?».

  


Junhui offered him a grin: «I’m okay, thanks to you. Having a friend whose mom is a nurse sure is useful.».

  


«Mhm, yeah.» he chuckled.

  


And then they both didn’t know what to say. It wasn’t like the argument of yesterday had been forgotten, and even if Vernon now didn’t feel angry, they still had to talk about some things. Many, many things.

  


But he wasn’t ready to do that now.

  


«So what were you two talking about? And ‘morning, Joshua.» he asked. He needed someone else to break the veil of silence reigning over them.

  


«Good morning to you too.» the other nodded, «He was just asking me some vampire facts. You know, to pin down which ones are true and false.».

  


«Apparently their senses are a lot weaker than many would assume.» Junhui commented. Actual stars were shining in his eyes, he looked so excited and happy. Of course Vernon got interested and directed a silent question to Joshua through his eyes.

  


«We’re basically walking cadavers that can survive only by drinking blood, so of course our bodies have to adapt.» he started, «My nose is very sensitive to blood, as I told you last night, but I hadn’t specified that it’s _only_ sensitive to that. I’m incapable of smelling pretty much anything else. Same goes for my ears, heartbeats are very loud and clear to me, even from afar, but it’s more difficult with other sounds. It’s not as bad as smelling, but sometimes I can’t hear people even if they’re near me, especially if I’m in a crowd.».

  


«And that is why the garlic perfume didn’t work.» Junhui concluded happily, «Unless garlic in general doesn’t work.».

  


«Oh, no. Garlic does hurt me, but only if I digest it. Touching it or smelling it is fine. And, by the way, sorry Vernon but I had to throw away your chips. I really appreciated your kindness but-».

  


«-They would have hurt you. It’s okay.» he made a “I don’t care” gesture with his hand, «Oh. Now that we’re talking about it, can I ask you something about your turning? If you don’t mind, obviously.».

  


«Of course. Shoot.» he took a sip of his tea.

  


«Okay. You said that your friend, Jeonghan-».

  


«My adopted sire, yes.».

  


Vernon stopped for a second at the unknown word. Thankfully, Junhui had his back: «A sire is the vampire that turns you into one.».

  


«Okay, yeah. That. You mentioned that he bit you and then you became like him. But then shouldn’t the first vampire have already turned you into a vampire since he bit you first?».

  


«It’s more complicated than that.» Joshua said, his tone was still light but not as much as before, «Getting bitten doesn’t automatically make you a vampire. It’s the venom.».

  


«The venom?».

  


He pointed at his mouth: «When we bite people, we also release a toxin inside of their circulatory system. Its purpose is to paralyze the human so that they won’t fight the vampire, but the higher is the amount in one’s body, the higher the chance of transforming gets. The easiest way to turn someone is to drain them so much to the point of being almost dead and then inject as much venom as possible. Only the older ones are capable of controlling its release, it’s the main reason as to why fledglings are forbidden from drinking directly from people.».

  


«So I’m guessing that Jeonghan had to bite you so that the venom could enter inside?» Vernon questioned a bit hesitantly.

  


«Yes. Technically the first vampire should be my sire since he did inject me the toxin first, but I’m pretty sure he didn’t have any intention to turn me, so I prefer to consider Jeonghan as my sire.» he finished with a shrug.

  


«I see. Thank you and sorry for bringing that up again.».

  


The vampire rolled his eyes with a huff: «What did I tell you about apologizing? You asked and I answered, why are saying sorry? You really are a tough nut to crack.».

  


«Uhm, I’m s-» he caught himself once Joshua raised an eyebrow at him.

  


«Urgh, you’re lucky your face is too nice to be ruined or I would have thrown a chair at you.» Joshua said casually and leaned his head on one of his hand. Vernon tried not to melt at the compliment/threat.

  


«Jeez, now I see what Chan was talking about. I think it’s time for me to go.» Junhui moved back his chair and got to his feet.

  


«Hey, wait! Where are you going? What is that supposed to mean?» Vernon actually had an inkling of what Junhui was talking about, but he wasn’t stupid enough to reveal his crush right in that moment.

  


Junhui, of course, ignored him and walked out: «You know it. I’m going to wake Chan up.» he said with a small wave and the same knowing smirk that the younger had constantly given him.

  


«Well, that was certainly weird. Want some Earl Grey?» Joshua affirmed and drank some more of the hot drink.

  


«No, it’s fine. I’ll make some eggs for you too.».

  


«Ahhh, wait. I’ll be cooking instead.» Joshua went beside him and took the pan from his hands. They were still incredibly cold, how could he walk around without shivering?

  


«No, you’re a guest. Let me do it.».

  


«Junhui told me that you and cooking are, in his words, what land is to merpeople. And while majority of food now tastes bland, at least I want to eat something that looks edible.»

  


Vernon pouted: «Am I supposed to feel offended?».

  


«On the contrary. I’m actually a pretty good cook, so sit back, relax and let _me_ take care of you. Consider this a thanks for letting me stay here.».

  


Vernon knew that he was whipped. He would have never permitted a guest to cook for themselves or even just let them spend the night on the armchair of the living room, but here he was, watching Joshua prepare breakfast for him only – a egg wouldn’t be enough for one person, no matter what he had previously told Vernon -, being the poster image of domesticity.

  


Vernon wasn’t just whipped, he was flogged, whisked, lashed, whatever other synonym existed.

  


He was also quite pathetic, but he liked Joshua, what else he could do?

  


And a couple of minutes later, the vampire put down probably the best looking egg he had ever seen. He wouldn’t have ruined it if it hadn’t also looked like the most delicious thing in the world. And after trying it, he could confirm that theory.

  


«Wow, you weren’t kidding, this is really good.» he said while chewing. He decided to close his mouth when Joshua sat in front of him, a proud expression on him.

  


«Not to brag, but I’ve only heard amazing things on my cooking. One day I might let you try my famous, incredible, astounding kimchi fried rice. Korean cuisine is the ace in my sleeve.».

  


«I’ll hold on to that statement then.» he swallowed before chuckling, Joshua replied with a smile.

  


«Oh! Since I’m here, why don’t you make me listen to one of your songs?».

  


The next bite threatened to go down his trachea: «Uh- You mean, like, now?».

  


«Mhm.» he hummed and put his face in between his palms and _oh my gosh, he looks so cute, how can he look so cute while doing something so simple? The privilege of pretty people, that’s why. Or vampires._

«I… don’t really have anything ready. Maybe another time.».

  


«Aww, _c’mon_. There has to be something.» he tilted his head and puckered his lips. _God, not the pout, not the pout!_

  


«I’m sor- serious! I haven’t produced anything new as of lately.».

  


«Then make me listen to something old.».

  


«I would need to search through my files, and that would take me quite some time.».

  


«Can’t you make a new song while I’m here?».

  


«That would take even more time.».

  


Joshua’s pout became even bigger.

  


«I-I’ll try to work to something this weekend. I’ll let you know once I’m finished.».

  


The pout turned into a giggle: «I’m kidding. I know that these things aren’t easy nor quick, so just take your time. I can be very patient.».

  


Vernon grinned: «Alright. I promise you’ll be the first one to listen to it.».

  


He was rewarded with another beautiful smile.

  


It didn’t take too long for him to finish the egg, wash the used plate alongside the pan and then they both went to the living room.

  


Where Junhui and Chan, who had been clearly silent up until that moment, started whispering among themselves once Vernon and Joshua crossed the door. He pretended to not have caught them eavesdropping, the two little shits.

  


«I think it’s time for me to go.» the latter announced, «Where’re my clothes?».

  


«Uhm, I’ll bring them to you. Are you sure it’s safe for you to go outside?».

  


The vampire hummed: «They must have returned to their sire at one point or their girl would have died, and they won’t try to attack me right under Jeonghan’s nose. He’s another one of the older vampire, possibly even older than Joohyun.».

  


«But you still have to walk to the Seventeen. What if they attack you along the way? We could accompany you.» Junhui asked with concern. He had gone from trying to kill him to offering to walk him home just in a span of a day. Vernon couldn’t say he was unhappy about it.

  


«And then what? What can you three do against vampires? No offense, but you would just be a liability for me.» the other responded crossing his arms, «Don’t worry, I can defend myself.».

  


He had a point. It didn’t matter that Chan knew taekwondo and that Junhui knew a lot on vampires and their weak points – even if some of them turned out to be not entirely effective -, fighting creatures stronger and faster than the normal person would still be incredibly difficult for kids like them. It didn’t sit well with him letting Joshua go completely alone, but he also knew that that would have been the best course of action.

  


«Okay. I’ll go take your clothes and then you can go, but I want you to message us once you have arrived to the Seventeen.».

  


Joshua rolled his eyes but he accepted with a nod: «Fine. I wanted to ask all of your numbers anyway.».

  


They all quickly exchanged their contacts and then Vernon went to the bathroom and took the senior’s clothes. He deposited them into Joshua’s arms, got out so that the other could change and then they both made their way back to the living room. The fabric of Joshua’s sweater was pristine and clean, as if the incident of last night had never happened. On the other end, the living room still looked like the set for a murder case. Thankfully Junhui already had a mop in his hand and a bucket of water at his feet.

  


«Thank you for everything. And, again, I’m sorry for all of the trouble I’ve caused you. Especially to Junhui.» the vampire said when Vernon walked him to the door.

  


«I’ve told you it’s okay. Do I have to lecture you on apologies this time?».

  


Joshua formed a small O with his mouth before giggling: «Oh, how the tables have turned.».

  


«Indeed.» he replied laughing as well.

  


Suddenly a phone started going off. Joshua took his cell out of his pocket and stopped the call: «Jeonghan never calls me unless he’s super worried. I better go.» he said putting away the device.

  


«Are you really okay with going alone? We could first go to Jun’s house and take, I don’t know, a holy water bottle or something else.».

  


«Everything will go well, nothing is going to happen and we’ll see each other again this Monday, so stop worrying so much. And if Junhui’s holy water bottles are the same as the one he used at school, then it’s not going to work.».

  


«Is it not effective?».

  


«Holy water is effective. Water that I presume was sold as the holy type but it actually isn’t, is not.».

  


«Wait, so what Jun threw at you was just normal water?» Vernon wondered out loud.

  


«I wouldn’t have been able to walk if it hadn’t been. I didn’t appreciate the gesture, but he already said sorry to me, so it’s okay.».

  


«Oh. I’m glad to hear both of those things.» He had been worried about it, that Junhui wasn’t feeling guilty. But he truly was happy that he had been proven wrong and the fact that the Chinese boy had gone out of his way to apologize to the person – or vampire – concerned. A weight that he didn’t know he had been carrying inside of him suddenly lifted and Vernon felt lighter.

  


That also meant that he had no other excuses to talk to Junhui. That they would need to fix their situation once and for all. And he was terrified. Last time it hadn’t gone well and he didn’t want a repeat of that.

  


Joshua hummed, bringing him back to reality: «I swear, if I see you at school in this state, I won’t speak to you unless you first do it with Junhui. You look like a kicked puppy.».

  


«You think I should do it right now? He’s trying to recover from a wound and he probably must be tired-».

  


«The first thing he did when he woke up was jump up and down the couch because he was so happy that he had been right about me. I’m sure he’s up for a conversation.».

  


Vernon tried to answer back, but he realized that he didn’t have a decent argument as a counterattack, so he shut his mouth. He was so nervous. It wasn’t their first argument, but it was the first serious one. He had touched a soft spot, crossed a line that shouldn’t have been stepped on in the first place. What if that step had been enough for his best friend to declare their friendship dead?

  


Okay, he was being overdramatic, Junhui hadn’t seemed angry back in the kitchen, but what if he had been hiding it? Or maybe he really had calmed down and wasn’t resentful anymore? Highly doubtful, but maybe he could still salvage their relationship? Or was he just deluding himself once again?

  


«Jesus, I can hear you think out loud. Just go talk to him-» he turned Vernon around and pushed him towards the living room, «-and stop presuming what he’s going to say or not.».

  


«But-».

  


«No buts. Just. Talk to him. Move your lips. Make use of your larynx. Do something.».

  


«Okay, okay, fine. I get it. Okay.» his shoulders sagged down, «But I don’t know how this is going to go.».

  


Joshua assumed a sympathetic expression: «And you will never know if you don’t try. Don’t be afraid to share your feelings or worries.» he said, now his tone gentler. He grabbed at the doorknob and lightly twisted it: «After all, you can’t just push them down and hope that they’ll disappear one day. If you aren’t the first one to take action, nothing will be resolved.».

  


He crossed the remaining distance and put a reassuring hand on his shoulder: «I’m sure everything’s going to be okay. You just have to talk and let everything out.».

  


Vernon didn’t have the same faith that Joshua had, but still, his words gave him a bit hope, they invigorated the fire that had been slowly getting weaker and weaker. They gave him some comfort, even if it wouldn’t have lasted very long, but it was something nonetheless.

  


«Thanks. See you on Monday.».

  


Joshua nodded with a soft smile and gave him a wave before he closed the door.

  


Vernon gave himself five minutes of preparation, slapping his cheeks and punching the air a couple of times. Probably a weird way to release all of the tension, but still a way. And then he returned to the living room.

  


Chan was moping the blood tray on the floor while Junhui was taking care of the stained couch. A flash of the repellent sigil memory overlapped with that image, them younger and with no involvement with an actual supernatural world and culture, paint covering their clothes and only joy and mischief on their faces.

  


«Jun? Can we talk?» He was proud of his voice for not wavering.

  


The other tensed at the question, he caught Chan with the corner of his eye stopping in his action before getting back to his work as if he hadn’t heard Vernon. Of course the younger wasn’t going anywhere and he was fine with it. After all, Chan had told him since the beginning that he should have been honest with Junhui, he had warned him time and time again but Vernon just hadn’t listened. Or rather, he had refused to listen. He deserved to hear the apology too.

  


«Uhm. Alright.» Eventually Junhui mumbled, refusing however to turn around and look at him, «You can go first, then.».

  


Vernon hummed. It was better, at least he wouldn’t have backed out of it. He took a deep breath and let his tongue run without any possibility of interruption: «First of all, I want to apologize for all of the lies. You were right, I should have trusted you and you had every single right to get angry at me. So, for that, I’m sorry. And I’m also sorry for making you think that you’re a burden for me, and I swear on every single songs I’ve ever made that that is not true. You could never be a burden to me. You are and will always be my best friend, even if all of our high school thinks that you’re a lunatic, even if I complain all the time whenever you drag me and Chan out to an abandoned and possibly haunted house, even if you’re way too stubborn and impulsive and that is going to get you killed one day. I would never leave you behind.».

  


And just like yesterday, after he had finished, Vernon felt like an athlete after the biggest competition of his career. Just like yesterday, Chan remained frozen, the mop tightly clutched in his hands and probably hoping that his two best friends would reconcile. Just like yesterday, Junhui could have walked out of the door without a word, leaving both of them behind.

  


When Junhui turned to him and stared at him, his thoughts hidden behind an expressionless face, the junior genuinely couldn’t feel himself breath. He felt trapped on the spot by that blank gaze, fear and anxiety like never before coursing through his veins. He had no idea of what Junhui was going to do.

  


And then, after what could have been only a minute that had actually seemed a decade, he moved.

  


And he hugged Vernon.

  


Exactly like he thought, he had given him an answer with no words. Only not the kind of response he had imagined.

  


And so, with no hesitation, he reciprocated immediately.

  


«I’m sorry too.» Junhui whispered so faintly into his shoulder he almost didn’t catch the phrase, «I’m so sorry too.».

  


Suddenly came the waterfall. Words quickly came out from his mouth, one after another with no interruption.

  


«I didn’t want to hurt him, I swear. It was never my intention. But that day in the cafeteria, after seeing him smile and being friendly with you and Chan, that did something to me, it made me angry for some reason and I wanted to do something. I wanted to convince you that I was right, that you were wrong and wouldn’t listen to me because somehow he had fucking brainwashed you. And next thing I know I’m standing and I threw the water at him and you were looking at me.» His voice cracked, «But you had never looked at me like that before, like- like I- like I was-» He couldn’t finish the sentence because of a sniffle.

  


«It’s okay. I know. I’m sorry for that.».

  


A hiccup: «I’m sorry too.».

  


«It’s fine. You’re forgiven.».

  


After a couple of second Chan joined them, the other two eagerly accepting him in.

  


And if the three of them shed a couple of tears, none of them mentioned it afterwards.

  


  


‹(˅⃝˅)›

  


  


«You’re a idiot. A gigantic, reckless, out of your mind idiot, you know that?».

  


«Is that the right way to speak to a _hyung_ , Chan?» Junhui mumbled while scrubbing the fabric of the couch. It turned out that washing it from the blood was a lot more difficult than they had originally thought. Vernon could feel his legs getting numb by how much time he had spent on his knees, trying to wash off the red liquid from the couch.

  


«Shut it. You made me worry. And we aren’t in Korea, the rule doesn’t count.».

  


«But I still have to buy you ice cream every time we go out…» he continued mumbling with a pout.

  


«To be fair, whoever thinks that the smartest thing to do after an argument is to go to an host club full of vampires just to demonstrate their point deserves the title of biggest idiot to have ever existed.» Vernon intervened.

  


«In my defense, if Joshua had admitted to his supernatural status immediately, I wouldn’t have spent that much time there and I would have never been jumped.».

  


«If you had never went there in the first place, you wouldn’t have been jumped.».

  


Junhui turned to glare at him: «Thank you, guys. I love you too.».

  


«Not a problem. I’m always ready to call the both of you out because of your bullshit. Right, Vernon- _hyung_?» Chan gave him a smile that was supposed to be innocent, but was probably the farthest thing from it.

  


Vernon wanted to clap back, but knew he couldn’t, so he settled for raising a single finger.

  


At the same time that the younger cackled, he felt his phone vibrating in his pocket. He fished it out and read the message.

  


  


**_Joshua_ **

****

_Just as I promised you, this is me telling you that I’ve_

_arrived safely at home ;)_

The corner of Vernon’s mouth lifted.

  


  


_happy to know that._

«Joshua has returned to the Seventeen.».

  


«Ooooh, right. Now that this is resolved, let’s talk about a certain pretty vampire.» Chan left the mop against the wall and smiled, this time even less innocent than before, «He’ll be the first one to listen to your new song, eh?».

  


Chan received a pillow to his face as an answer, accompanied by Junhui’s laughter in the background.

  


  


‹(˅⃝˅)›

  


  


Monday came in a flash and Vernon, Junhui and Chan arrived to school expecting to see Joshua roaming for the hallway waiting for them, just like he had told.

  


But the familiar head of caramel hair wasn’t there.

  


Nor did they found him in the cafeteria or after all of the classes of the day had finished.

  


Joshua hadn’t come to school that day.

  


And that’s when Vernon started getting worried a bit. Maybe he could have gotten sick, there could be the possibility that vampires could still catch an illness, or maybe there had been an emergency at the Seventeen. An emergency that could have involved a certain group of vampires, but still, there were other possible, logical explanations.

  


It didn’t take too long for his thoughts to spiral into darker corners of his mind and the worse hypotheses started playing out. He wasn’t usually the type to get worried over things, Chan was an expert at that, but Vernon had easily discovered that if a certain person – vampire – was involved, he could be worse than his fellow junior.

  


«What if someone else texted me instead of him? I should have talked with him more to make sure that he was the real Joshua.» he said while going back and forth from the door of the CCCU club to the opposite wall. He hadn’t stopped moving since they had reunited there.

  


«Nobody but Joshua and us knew that he would have sent you a message.» Chan replied from his usual position on top of one of the desks. Whenever he wasn’t the one being consumed by concerns and anxiety, he could be surprisingly level-headed, «Even if he really got attacked by someone, how could have they known that he would have texted you?».

  


«I don’t know, they could have spied us at my home or something.».

  


«If that’s the case, then why didn’t they attack us there? I doubt they would have cared about someone discovering our bodies, I find it hard to believe that the police would start to look for vampires.»

  


Vernon ruffled his hair with both of his hands in frustration: «Ah, fuck! Where the hell is he? Why isn’t he answering to the phone?!» That was the first thing he thought of doing, but after the fourth unanswered call, he had given up.

  


Junhui, who had watched the exchange in silence, suddenly popped out with an idea: «We could go to directly check up on him at the Seventeen.».

  


A bad idea. A typical Junhui idea.

  


An idea that didn’t sound so bad to Vernon tough.

  


«Did you forget what happened to you last Saturday?» Chan rebutted.

  


«I was unprepared, this time I know what to do to defend all of us. And last time I went there during the evening, we can go there when the place is still closed, there’ll be less creatures around. And we have-» he looked at his wrist watch, «three hours before the Seventeen opens.».

  


«We would still need to go to your house to take whatever’s necessary, meaning losing an hour, and then we would have to walk to the place, which would take us at least another hour. Not to mention that there’s no guarantee that we won’t find any dangerous vampire waiting for us. And-».

  


While Chan was continuing with his rambling, Junhui had picked up his backpack and emptied it of all of its content onto another desk, revealing at least seven containers of holy waters and a couple of rosaries.

  


Vernon frowned: «Since when did you started carrying all of that with you?».

  


«Considering that the vampires could also be looking for me, I decided that I should have been prepared just in case anything happened.».

  


«But that’s way too much for a single person.».

  


Chan, who had interrupted himself to stare at the pile of object, made a face of realization: «You were planning to go to the Seventeen from the beginning, didn’t you?».

  


Vernon was ready to argue again when Junhui spoke first: «Okay, I’ll admit that you’re right, but I was planning to tell you. I learned my lesson. I would have felt a lot more secure if Joshua had been here with us, but there’s not much else that we can do.».

  


«This is way too risky. I thought we all agreed to stay away from the Seventeen, right Vernon- _hyung_?».

  


But he was too busy inspecting all of the items onto the table to answer to Chan, and then he exchanged glances with Junhui, who in turn grinned mischievously.

  


«Oh no, you aren’t considering this. Please tell me you aren’t seriously considering this.».

  


Junhui clapped: «Okay, we’re two against one, so we’re going!».

  


«What?! No, no. This is too much, a million of things could go wrong, you can’t really-».

  


Vernon grabbed one of his arms while Junhui took the other one after putting everything back in his bag and then they started pulling Chan towards the door.

  


«Guys, please, let’s think about this! Maybe Joshua is perfectly okay and has a perfectly good reason as to why he hasn’t come today! Can’t we try to call him again? He’s going to answer this time, I’m convinced of that. Don’t ignore me!».

  


It didn’t matter how much poor Chan struggled or protested against Vernon and Junhui, they managed to drag him without any effort until the entrance doors, until Chan realized that he would have never convinced them to change idea, so he accepted his destiny and agreed to the plan.

  


The Seventeen was located, as one would expect, into the red light district, which was at quite the distance from the school. They had to take the bus up until the very last stop and walk for a bit until they finally reached their destination. And even after that, they still had some road ahead of them since the host club was almost at the end of the district, hidden behind a pair of clubs and a building that Vernon had first thought to be an hotel until he heard moans coming from one of windows and immediately realized what kind of hotel that was.

  


He tried very hard to erase those noises from his mind.

  


And in the end, there it was the Seventeen in all of his glory, the same three-store edifice with the neon sign, the entrance surmounted by an exquisitely decorated arch with golden patterns and swirls that made everything look classier than it probably was and nobody to be seen outside. Vernon looked at his phone and noted that they had made it an hour and a half before the opening.

  


Hopefully Joshua was really okay and he had been worried for nothing.

  


Junhui went for the doors: «Uhm, are you sure that they’re open- Okay, never mind.» Chan said as he watched the Chinese boy enter without any problem. He briefly glanced at his other friend, Vernon swallowed before following Junhui and threw open the door a second time.

  


And was surprised to find that the interior was actually a lot different from what he had imagined.

  


They found themselves in a large room full of scarlet couches with small tables in front of them, all of which were oriented towards a medium-sized stage in the back of the area, with speakers and a DJ station next to it. There was also a bar on the left with stools and a huge cabinet filled with bottles that ranged from expensive champagne to liquors of different kinds. The walls were covered by flashy red curtains, Vernon caught a glimpse of doors hidden behind the delicate fabric. Pillars styled in the same way as the arch adorned the sides, alternated by Korean-like tiny statues and vases.

  


Overall, everything looked elegant and classy rather than loud and dirty, like that one club they had once sneaked into thanks to Junhui – according to him, clubs combined the two things fairies were weak for: dancing and victims for their tricks -. He felt like he had just entered inside an exclusive five-star restaurant instead of a tamer version of a brothel.

  


It was all very nice, comfy, almost welcoming. It seemed completely out of place for a facility located in the red light district. But then again, this was the first host club he had ever visited. Maybe all of them were like the Seventeen, or even better. He didn’t really have another example to base his suppositions.

  


«Excuse me, but we’re still closed.».

  


Vernon blinked and noticed just in that moment that a person had appeared. It was a woman looking slightly older than them, with soft-looking wavy hair and a beautiful long red dress hugging her figure. She had to be one of the hostess working there.

  


Meaning she was probably a vampire. The glint of golden mixed to the brown of her inquisitive stare, identical to the one in Joshua’s, was a dead giveaway.

  


«What are you three doing here? You seem a little too young to be customers. We don’t accept minors, you know?» she crossed her arms.

  


«Uhm, we’re looking for Joshua.» Vernon said hesitantly. The beauty of the woman was a bit disarming, to say the least. Combined with her intimidating stance it made her appear like a predator studying her next meal.

  


She narrowed her eyes: «Who’s asking?».

  


«We’re classmates.» Junhui took over, the junior sent him a silent thank you because he wasn’t sure he could have continued. The vampire was starting to become a bit too scary for him, «Last Friday, he lent us some notes and we were supposed to give them back today, but he didn’t come to school. We thought about coming here then.».

  


The woman, despite the charming smile Junhui had directed to her, didn’t change her expression: «Shouldn’t have you gone to his house then?».

  


«We went there, but there was nobody inside, so we figured he would be here. He mentioned that he worked here part time.».

  


He took a couple of steps forward, but the moment his foot touched the ground again, the woman completely changed attitude.

  


«Stop. Right. There.».

  


Her stare turned into a glare, her mouth curled in displeasure and her entire body tensed. If she first had looked like she was examining them, slowly circling her preys and assessing the situation, now she had her claws out, ready to jump them from a moment to another. Vernon didn’t miss the canines now poking from her cherry lips.

  


«I don’t know what you really want, but I suggest you to walk away now that I’m still being polite with you.».

  


_Wow, that was being polite?_

  


Vernon bit his lips to not speak out loud. They didn’t need another pissed off vampire ready to kill them with no mercy.

  


«We just want to know where Joshua is and then we will go away. Just answer this, please.» he tried and put his hands up as to appease her.

  


«I don’t know and frankly I wouldn’t tell you.».

  


Vernon felt his blood froze in his veins. Didn’t Joshua live here among side the workers? How could she not know? Either she was lying or Joshua had really never made it to the Seventeen. He wanted to believe the first one, but his mind wasn’t helping by leaning towards the second.

  


He was usually an optimist, where did the optimism had gone?

  


«Was he at least here during the weekend?» Chan persisted from behind Vernon, he had unconsciously moved in front of the younger. The vampire simply glared at them instead of answering.

  


«We have no intention to hurt him, just tell us if-».

  


Junhui stepped forward _again_ – and really, if they hadn’t been in the danger of becoming the next snacks for a vampire, Vernon would have face-palmed – and the woman straight up _hissed_ at him. Yeah, now she wasn’t even trying to hide her supernatural nature anymore. At least Junhui finally stopped walking.

  


«Get. Out.» Her tone was icy. Chan jumped behind him, his fingers curling into Vernon’s jacket, «Right now.».

  


Vernon noticed Junhui sneakily moving his hand to the back pocket of his jeans, where he had put the holy water container. But so did the woman, who then zeroed her eyes onto the Chinese boy. Her entire body was screaming “attack” and the Chinese boy, despite not showing any emotion on his face, looked clearly terrified of her. Vernon brought his own hand near his jacket where he had his own bottle. If they were going to fight, then he had to be ready.

  


«Last warning, kids. Get out now or I won’t hesitate.».

  


None of them moved from their positions, either because they were too afraid to do so or because they didn’t want to back down. Vernon knew that he was more for the latter. He had to know where Joshua was and if he was okay or not.

  


And if there was a vampire blocking his path, then he had no choice but to destroy the obstacle.

  


«Yoojin, wait, wait!».

  


Suddenly footsteps pounding against a staircase could be heard, a door to the side opened and a figure entered the room: «I know them, don’t do anything.».

  


Vernon let out a breath once he realized that the person wearing a sweater a little too big for his frame was none other than Joshua, looking a little tired but okay nonetheless.

  


And just like a switch, the woman did another one-eighty and her body relaxed entirely: «Oh. Is one of them the infamous Vernon you constantly talk about?».

  


At the mention of his name, he suddenly felt himself getting warm. At the same time Joshua rolled his eyes in annoyance: «Urgh, yes. You can go now, I’ll handle everything here.».

  


«But I want to talk to him! C’mon, I have to see if he’s really as handsome as you’ve told me-».

  


« _Get out of here_!».

  


Joshua pushed not so gently the other vampire behind the door he had come from before closing it. Then his forehead banged against its surface before finally turning to face Vernon, Junhui and Chan.

  


His appearance was… unusual, to say the least: his hair was messy and unruly, just like a bird nest, the big hoodie was pretty much swallowing him whole and his lips were smeared with something red to the side.

  


Vernon first thought was _He looks so cute like that._

  


Then his brain started working again and he leaped towards the senior and grabbed at his arms: «Are you okay? Where the hell were you?» he basically yelled. He gave him a quick look-over to make sure no wounds were present and thankfully that seemed to be the case.

  


«Here, obviously. I texted you, didn’t I?» Joshua replied and freed himself by stepping back. Strangely he wasn’t looking at Vernon’s face, but rather his collarbone. The initial stupor was quickly substituted by an annoyed expression, «The real question is why are you three here. Do you have any idea of all of the things that could have happened to you along the way?».

  


«You weren’t at school. We were all pretty concerned, Vernon almost went insane by the worry.» Junhui said and swiftly avoided the kick his friend had aimed at him. Both him and Chan had gotten closer to them and were giving Joshua the same scan that he had just completed.

  


That was enough to calm Joshua down a bit: «Sorry, but a lot of things happened today and I completely forgot about telling you. But still, you shouldn’t have come here.».

  


«That’s exactly what I told them, _hyung_.» Chan added with his arms crossed. Vernon simply raised an eyebrow, he wouldn’t regret his choice.

  


For the entire day, he had felt this weight settled in his stomach getting heavier and heavier the more time was passing and Joshua was nowhere to be found. But now that the vampire was in front of him, safe and healthy, only then the weight had disappeared. It was very likely that he would have gone to the Seventeen on his own even without Junhui’s suggestion, he had been that much worried.

  


Discovering the existence of vampires and possibly other supernatural creatures was helping him discover a new side of him, a more rash and careless side of his personality he wasn’t sure he had started developing only recently or if it had always been there asleep and dormant but present nevertheless.

  


Joshua let out a sigh: «Well, at least I can explain what happened to you right now. Let’s go to my room though. Jeonghan is out now, it’s better if he doesn’t know that you’ve visited. He isn’t the biggest fan of humans.».

  


They made their way through the staircase from which Joshua had appeared. The woman of before was nowhere to be found.

  


«But he owns a host club with human clients too.» Junhui pointed out.

  


«Exactly. Those are clients, meaning profit. If they don’t bring profit, they aren’t welcome here. At least, not in Jeonghan’s book.».

  


«This Jeonghan is very weird.» Chan commented. Vernon was happy to note that he wasn’t as agitated as before.

  


It didn’t take too long to reach the top and they soon found themselves in a hallway with doors lined to the walls.

  


«He just has a complicated relationship with your kind. He never goes into details, but clearly something happened between him and humans.» Joshua shrugged, «The end of the story is the less people he sees, the happier he is. So you three have to be out of here before he returns.».

  


The senior stopped in front of one of the doors and opened it. His bedroom was small but brimming with personality: the bed was undone, colored pillows and a stuffed dog on top of it. Fairy lights adorned the wall behind, a guitar was leaning next to a white desk full of books and papers and on another shelf a small TV and a game console were visible.

  


«Excuse me for the chaos.» Joshua quickly pulled the blankets and moved the pillows and plushy. There was a rare blush on his cheeks, which Vernon found adorable.

  


They all took a seat on various place, Vernon and Junhui on the floor while Chan chose the puff chair. Joshua opted for the now somewhat presentable bed.

  


«Okay, so. Today I wanted to go to school, but unfortunately we had surprise guests and I had to stay here.».

  


Junhui seemed to have already understood what he was getting at: «Don’t tell me it was-».

  


«It was Joohyun, yeah. And she wasn’t alone. She brought her mate and the three vampires with her.».

  


They all tensed at that sentence.

  


«Did-Did they do something to you?» Vernon asked.

  


«No, nothing violent happened. Joohyun just wanted to hear my side of the story. She’s doesn’t like getting her hands dirty, but if she really has to rip open the throat of someone, she needs a good reason do to it, especially if another old vampire like Jeonghan is involved.» Joshua chewed on his lip, «So I did what she asked me and told her everything, without mentioning Vernon and Chan, of course.».

  


«And what was her answer?».

  


«Since my story was different, she questioned the three vampires until they finally spilled the truth. Well, mostly because her mate, Seulgi, looked very pissed off. They are notorious for causing trouble, apparently, another reason as to why Joohyun wanted to talk to me and confirm the authenticity of their words. We spent the entire morning and a big part of the afternoon trying to resolve this dispute until we finally reached an agreement. The three vampire stay away from here and I, in exchange, don’t touch them ever again.».

  


Vernon slowly nodded: «So, now everything’s good.».

  


«Yup. I can say that the problem is solved now.»Joshua gave them a tiny grin, «Even if Jeonghan now doesn’t want me to come out of my room whenever the Seventeen’s open. But it’s okay, he’ll come down eventually.».

  


«And after all of that, I can only imagine what was your emotional state.» Chan muttered with sympathy.

  


«Actually, I wasn’t upset or anything, I just needed some time alone and school was the last of my thoughts.» He stretched his arm towards the table next to his bed where his phone was lying. There was also the same thermos of last Friday, its lid missing this time, filled with a dark red liquid, «I turned my phone off and I completely forgot about warning you. And- oh, wow, okay. Next time I’ll make sure to text you.» he promised while looking at the screen, he was probably going through the plethora of messages and calls that Vernon had made.

  


«Yeah. I told that Vernon was so, so concerned over you. When I offered to come here, he immediately said yes without batting an eyelid-».

  


«Okay! Now that we know that Joshua is still alive, I say we go home.» Vernon stood up and forcefully grabbed Junhui’s from the jacket.

  


«Oh, right! I’ll take you to the back door.».

  


The back door was located in the same room they had first entered, cleverly hidden behind one of the curtains covering a corner of the area.

  


Joshua opened it, a gust of cold wind made Vernon shiver, but Joshua, wearing the least amount of clothes among them, didn’t even flinch: «Uhm, okay. I appreciate the fact that you came here just to check up on me, but please, don’t do that next time. I won’t ghost you again, just don’t come here. At least, not without telling me first.».

  


«Not gonna lie, you sound like an overprotective older brother. Are you worried that the other residents are going to snatch us from you?» Vernon chuckled, hoping to dampen the tension a bit.

  


Joshua pouted: «I trust my siblings, they would never hurt you. But there’re other vampires roaming the area, even when the Seventeen is closed, and they definitely aren’t as nice.».

  


«Well, we’ve arrived here without any bad encounters.».

  


«Okay, but what about next time? I don’t want you all to be hurt-».

  


«Fine, I get it. _We_ get it. We won’t come here unless we tell you beforehand. Alright.».

  


Joshua wrinkled his mouth in what probably was supposed to be a disdained face but resulted in the cutest expression to have ever existed. Vernon basically melt on the spot.

  


«I’ll hold on to that.» the vampire eventually muttered.

  


«You won’t regret it.».

  


«Just like the song.».

  


«I’ve started working to it this weekend, right guys? Right.».

  


«I hope you’ll finish it soon.».

  


«I’ll try to be as fast as possible.».

  


«Jesus Christ, you two are the most lovable and disgusting couple I’ve ever seen. Just make us a favor and kiss.».

  


Vernon whipped his head around to find the woman from before sprawled on one of the couches, her eyes locked on her phone but a smirk on her lips.

  


«Glad I’m not the only thinking that.».

  


Vernon stepped on Chan’s foot with his entire weight at the same time that Joshua glared at her: «Shouldn’t you be getting ready, Yoojin?».

  


«I am ready. I don’t need make-up, my face is already more than enough.» she inspected her nails and shrugged, «By the way, your taste in men is fabulous. If he hadn’t been already so infatuated with you, I might have made a move on him.».

  


«Gah- He’s only seventeen, you pervert!».

  


«I said _might_ , calm down, Shua. And in any case, he’s way too whipped for you to even look at me.».

  


Now it was Vernon’s turn to blush: «N-No, I’m not!».

  


And before anyone else could further humiliate him, he grabbed both Junhui and Chan, directed a quick “goodbye” to Joshua and the other vampire and walked out of the door.

  


«You know that she’s right, Vernon.».

  


«Of course she is.»

  


«Both of you, shut the fuck up.».

  


  


‹(˅⃝˅)›

  


  


Next day, neither him or Joshua mentioned Yoojin’s words and thankfully he could escape from Chan and Junhui’s teasing for the following two hours thanks to the tutoring club.

  


If Chan alone had been difficult to bare, the addition of the Chinese boy had made things even more difficult, to the point where he was seriously considering slapping them whenever Joshua was even simply mentioned in their conversations.

  


Especially because Junhui’s comments were even less innocent than Chan’s

  


The moment Vernon walked inside of the clubroom and saw said senior in front of a desk reorganizing his notes for the tutoring session, he had to take a deep breath to free his mind from his friend’s words. And then did it again when Joshua accidentally dropped one of the papers and had to bend down to pick it up, giving Vernon a front row view of his back side.

  


_Fuck me, why is it so damn perky?!_

  


He had roughly ten seconds to wash his brain of other dirty stuff before Joshua turned around and greeted him: «Vernon, hey.».

  


Despite the sweet smile he had directed at him, Vernon felt something wrong coming from the vampire. The usual light surrounding him was a lot more dim compared to usual and he had a far-away look in his eyes. He had first noticed it during lunch but he hadn’t paid too much attention to it back then, thinking that he had been just looking too much into it.

  


But maybe that wasn’t the case.

  


«Hey.» he replied, still trying to push down the sensation: «Are you ready for today’s debate? Apparently we’ll talk about Asian cultures and the differences with American’s.».

  


«Yeah. I’m sure it’s going to be amazing.» the other responded. He probably was trying to look enthusiastic, but the attempt had been pathetic. Joshua’s voice sounded too fake, too bland, he clearly had other things going through his mind even if his face didn’t show anything out of the ordinary. If they hadn’t gotten closer over the past weeks, he probably would have never noticed it.

  


He thought about questioning him afterwards, but he didn’t want to appear too nosy so he focused on preparing himself for the impromptu lesson of the day.

  


But it was getting very hard to ignore the problem whenever he looked at Joshua and saw him hardly participating to the debate, just saying a few words and observing the students in silence when his mind was clearly to another place.

  


It was unsettling, to say the least.

  


When the two hours were over, Vernon couldn’t help but wander to his side and ask him: «Is everything okay?».

  


The sentence was enough to tear Joshua away from his troubled thoughts: «Hhm?».

  


«I asked if there was something wrong.».

  


«Oh. You noticed it?».

  


«It’s a little hard not to. You look very… sad.» Vernon said.

  


«It’s nothing. Don’t worry about it.».

  


_No, clearly it’s not nothing if you look ready to break down in tears. It hurts to watch you be so quiet and distant, I want to cheer you up._

  


He didn’t say any of this out loud. What if he came out as too intrusive? Making Joshua angry was the last thing he wanted to do, but he also didn’t want to let him go home looking depressed.

  


«See you tomorrow.».

  


Vernon hadn’t noticed they had already arrived at the entrance of the school. The doors were open and Joshua had a foot outside but for some reason he wasn’t moving but instead staring at the sky.

  


And that’s when Vernon looked up and realized that it was raining.

  


He had seen the forecast and taken an umbrella with him luckily, so he immediately fished it out from his backpack and went to open it. But then he noticed that Joshua was watching the drops furiously coming down from the sky with an annoyed face.

  


He didn’t have an umbrella in his hand, unlike him.

  


«You didn’t know it was going to rain?» he asked.

  


Joshua nodded: «The one time I don’t check the weather, of course there’s a downpour outside.» he whined ruffling his caramel hair.

  


Suddenly he got a flash of three weeks ago, where they were both in the same position and Joshua had refused his offer to accompany him. And he also realized that that could have been the perfect occasion to make him happy again.

  


_This is your chance. C’mon, say it._

  


«Uhm, I can take you home.».

  


Joshua turned to him in confusion: «What?».

  


«My parents gave me their car today, so I can give you a lift to the Seventeen and you’ll avoid the water.» he explained, hope enlacing his words.

  


«You’re very kind, but you know how I feel about letting you go there.».

  


«Hey, you told me that I had to warn you in advance, which I’m doing it right now, and I’m sure you don’t want to take a premature shower, so let me accompany you home. I don’t mind.».

  


«But you live in the complete opposite direction.».

  


«So what? I still have a car, it will take thirty minutes at max.».

  


«But there’s still the vampires, and Jeonghan will be home now and-».

  


«I won’t drop you in front of the Seventeen then. So Jeonghan won’t see me and I doubt feral vampires will try to attack me with this rain.».

  


Joshua still looked unconvinced. There was only one thing he could do then.

  


He had to use his secret weapon, his ace up his sleeve, and Junhui’s favorite method to obtain something.

  


He moved in front of the other and gave him his best rendition of Junhui’s puppy eyes, with the pout and high-pitched voice: «C’moooon, please. Let me take you home.».

  


For a moment, Joshua didn’t say anything and just stared at the junior with his mouth wide open and something akin to horror in his eyes, until a snicker came out from his lips, subsequently followed by a giggle: «Oh my God, what is this supposed to be?».

  


«Just me trying to convince you.».

  


The giggles became louder: «Please, stop doing that!»

  


«Not until you say yes.».

  


«Jesus, how can your voice do that? It shouldn’t be possible!» he continued, now he was full on cackling.

  


«I make the impossible possible.».

  


«Okay, fine, fine! I’ll accept the lift, just please, don’t ever do that again!» Despite his words, Joshua was still in the middle of a laughter and it took him quite a bit to calm down.

  


«Well then, I guess-» Vernon made a show of opening his umbrella, then bowed to the other, «-we can go, my prince.».

  


«Oh, I much prefer this to that disgusting act of before.» he said while moving closer to Vernon so that the umbrella could cover them. He forced himself to not blush.

  


«Hey, it’s called _aegyo_ and that was perfect, thank you very much.».

  


«I could literally see the pain in your eyes.».

  


«But it was still perfect.».

  


Joshua replied with another giggle.

  


Only it turned into a gasp once a particularly strong guff of wind took away the umbrella from Vernon’s hand and dragged it away from them, completely overturned and broken.

  


He stood there, staring at the betrayal of his umbrella, before looking back at Joshua: «I guess we have to run.».

  


«Let’s go, then!» The other grabbed his sleeve and they started running towards the parking lot, trying to avoid all of the puddles that were slowly forming.

  


Thankfully the grey car soon came into view and they both got in in a second once Vernon opened the door with the car keys.

  


«Okay, that wasn’t exactly how I wanted it to go.» he announced once both of them were safe from the water and started the car up.

  


«Were you planning a romantic walk under the rain, me clinging to you and then open the door for me?».

  


«What- of course not!» Vernon blurted out.

  


Joshua was like this sometimes, throwing out these type of comments that he couldn’t distinguish as simple teasing or just straight up flirting. He had no idea if that’s how he normally behaved with others or if this was a special treatment reserved only for Vernon. He hadn’t done it with Junhui or Chan, but then again they had talked only three times with him and only one of them they hadn’t discussed any supernatural related topic.

  


In essence, he felt very confused and very embarrassed whenever phrases like that came out from Joshua’s mouth. Maybe it was better that Chan and Junhui didn’t know about it or their teasing would have never ended. Or worse, Joshua would have started acting like this around them too.

  


At the mere idea of the senior possibly flirting with his two other friends, Vernon couldn’t help but shiver.

  


«Are you cold? Maybe you should take off your jacket since it’s all wet.» the other suggested while doing the same with his coat and leaving it on the backseats. He was indeed not getting any warmer despite the heating on, so he also got rid of his outer layer and remained with his long-sleeve shirt on.

  


Vernon turned to Joshua, who in turn was fixing the helm of his turtleneck, and noticed that its collar was down and the bite mark was out in the open.

  


He hadn’t noticed it the first time, but the scar wasn’t made only by four circular holes. There were actually eight.

  


Since they were so close to one another, Vernon hadn’t realized that rather than having being bitten in the same spot twice, Joshua had two bite marks very close to each other. In fact, now that he had a more clear view, one of them – the first one probably, since it looked slightly older – didn’t have the typical shape of a bite. Rather than two perfect crescents, it almost looked like someone had dragged the wound, as if Joshua had tried to pull away but his aggressor hadn’t let go of his neck.

  


He couldn’t imagine how painful it must have been.

  


«Don’t look at it.»

  


Vernon raised his gaze in confusion: «What?».

  


«I said don’t!».

  


He couldn’t help but jump at that yelp. He had never seen Joshua lose his cool so quickly or raise his voice, he had always looked like the type of person that hardly got angry in general, at least not so abruptly. Apparently he was wrong.

  


He didn’t pry any further and focused on the street at the same time that Joshua fixed his collar and didn’t say anything else.

  


The far-away look had returned.

  


«I’m sorry, I didn’t want to-».

  


«I know.» Joshua had his eyes locked outside, the harshness gone from his tone leaving only defeat, «Just- Please, don’t say anything. I know it’s ugly, I tell myself that every single day. I don’t need you to tell me that too.».

  


_What_?

  


«That’s not what I wanted to say. I would never say that.».

  


«Then what?» Joshua turned to him, his lips curled in displeasure and a frown etched on his face. Still, his eyes held no anger, but just sadness.

  


The same sadness of before.

  


And Vernon couldn’t help but wonder.

  


Wonder if the scars had something to do with it.

  


But that wouldn’t make any sense, he had never brought up the subject before and he hardly doubted that Junhui and Chan would. Not if they saw how clearly distressed Joshua was about it.

  


But he still couldn’t help but think that they were somehow involved. There clearly was something, a lot more to it.

  


And then came a voice to his head, a voice that sounded way too familiar, telling him that burying his thoughts wouldn’t have made them go away.

  


Burying sadness wouldn’t have made it go away.

  


«I just wanted to know why are you so upset.»

  


Clearly that hadn’t been the answer Joshua was waiting for: «Uh?».

  


«Before you told me that it was nothing. It clearly isn’t. I want to know what is worrying you so much and if maybe I could help you fix it in some way.».

  


The other didn’t say anything. In fact, he wasn’t even looking at him but rather at the space between his seat and Vernon’s.

  


And then, a voice barely audible was heard.

  


«I really don’t want to talk about it.».

  


Vernon let some silence play out, waiting for Joshua to elaborate, which he did after a couple of seconds.

  


«Yes, I’m worried about something. Something big. But I just don’t want to talk about it know. I’m not ready.».

  


By his tone, he wanted to end the conversation. But Vernon didn’t.

  


«But when you’ll be ready, will you tell me?».

  


Joshua whipped his head so fast, so quickly at those hushed words.

  


«What?».

  


«I’m not going to force you. If you don’t feel ready, that’s fine. Maybe you don’t feel comfortable sharing it with me-» Joshua made a noise, but he didn’t stop, «it’s fine. It’s okay. Take your time then. But once you’ll be ready, just so you know, I’ll be there to listen to you and help you as much as I can.».

  


Instead of an answer, Joshua stared at his side profile before returning to his original position, this time though there was something different on his face. Something he couldn’t really point out.

  


_I hope I didn’t fuck up._

  


The rest of the journey was spent basking in a silence that didn’t feel awkward anymore but tense nonetheless, with the drops of water hitting softly the windscreen as their companions and Vernon asking himself if he did the right thing. If he hadn’t gone too far with his words.

  


If there was something that the argument between him and Junhui had made him learn was that he should have been more open and honest with himself. Piling up negative emotions had done nothing more than hurt him slowly but continuously, until he had eventually exploded in the worst way possible. That was something he wanted to avoid.

  


The importance of talking to others without being afraid to hurt them was something he was slowly starting to learn. And he didn’t want Joshua to hide his concerns away and hope to forget them. He didn’t want him to do what he was trying to get rid of.

  


Maybe he wouldn’t have been able to appease his mind or help him resolve his problem. But at least he wanted to be there for him. He wanted to reassure him and make him understand that there was someone ready to listen to him. That there was someone he could have open up to without the fear of hurting him.

  


Just as he promised, he didn’t stop in front of the Seventeen. Instead, he parked near the alley that came before it, the one squished between the two clubs. The rain had considerably diminished, now akin to something more gentle and relaxing.

  


«I would have given you my umbrella, but unfortunately it had other plans in mind.».

  


Joshua gave a light chuckle at Vernon’s joke as he leaned back to take again his coat, the only genuine smile since the beginning of the car ride. So maybe Vernon hadn’t completely fucked up.

  


Joshua put on the garment and reached for the knob before suddenly stopping. His eyes were casted down, his finger tightly clutching the metallic handle: «Vernon, I-».

  


He bit his lip and then looked at him, eyes full of unspoken thoughts and feelings, but no words came out of his mouth. Vernon thought of something to encourage him and was about to say it, but then Joshua did something completely unexpected.

  


He leaned forward and pressed his lips gently against Vernon’s cheek. It was quick, fast, nothing more than a peck, one second he could feel the wet strands of Joshua’s hair tickling his nose and the next they were gone.

  


It was barely something, but that barely something made his heart stop for a second.

  


The vampire moved back and muttered: «I’ll see you tomorrow.» before he stepped out of the car and ran in the direction of the Seventeen. Not once he looked back at him.

  


And Vernon finally understood what had settled over Joshua’s feature, what the mysterious emotion had been.

  


It was gratitude.

  


  


‹(˅⃝˅)›

  


  


The next day saw Vernon, Joshua and Junhui inside the CCCU club submerged by papers and papers on sightings of supernatural creatures and phenomena that hadn’t found any logical explanation.

  


It had all began at lunch with a request from Junhui directed to the other senior.

  


«Could you help us find a new mission for the CCCU club?».

  


The sentence was followed by Vernon choking on his soup and next to him Joshua almost spilling blood onto the table from his thermos.

  


«Why are you asking me that?» he questioned with a frown.

  


«Now that the first mission has been completed, of course we have to move on to something else. And since Chan today is busy with a group project, I thought I could ask you.» Junhui explained.

  


«I understand, but why _me_?».

  


Junhui grinned, a twinkle of mischief in his eyes: «Well, apart from the fact that a certain person that I know would be very happy to spend some time with you-» Despite Vernon violently stomping on his foot, he continued without even flinching, «you’re part of the supernatural community, so I’m sure you’ll be incredibly helpful to us.».

  


Joshua slowly nodded, a pensive look appearing on his face. Whatever was troubling him was still there, the air of calmness that used to surround unfortunately hadn’t magically reappeared, but at least today he didn’t seem to be sad. It was still something for Vernon.

  


«You don’t mind him helping us, do you Vernon?» Junhui asked wiggling his eyebrows.

  


«Uhm, yes. As long as Joshua agrees, I’m okay with it.».

  


Joshua, however, didn’t seem to have heard those words. He was staring at his thermos lost in thoughts, a grimace on his face.

  


«Joshua?» he lightly tapped his shoulder and that was when he blinked, the dark cloud that had settled over him disappeared and looked at them.

  


«Sorry about that. For me it’s okay then, I can help you.».

  


Vernon’s smile was a lot more genuine compared to the vampire’s, but he decided to ignore that. For a moment, Junhui’s pupils travelled to Joshua’s mouth before they settled back up and grinned too.

  


«Great. Then I’ll bring you to the clubroom after our last class.».

  


«Got it.» And then they changed topic and returned to their lunch.

  


A couple of hours later, Vernon was in front of the room waiting for the other two. He was currently looking at the sign hanging from the door and wondering if they should have changed it. He had to admit that the animal stickers and scented markers were pretty unique and somewhat charming, but it was far from what he would consider a professional recruitment notice.

  


And then there was what Junhui liked to call the symbol of the CCCU club.

  


It was nothing short of a scrawl made at the last minute, a group of lines and circles that were supposed to represent something but he couldn’t exactly pinpoint what. Not that he was surprised, it had been Junhui’s idea to add it exactly five minutes before they went to hang the sign outside of the clubroom, saying that it was a “depiction of the supernatural” or whatever. He couldn’t see the supernatural in the two Vs with the big circle in the middle, the parenthesis containing the shapes and the little triangles at their sides.

  


He probably should have asked about it afterwards.

  


Junhui and Joshua arrived a couple of minutes later, the latter immediately eyeing the paper with great interest. Vernon couldn’t tell if he was judging the style or was genuinely curios about it.

  


He didn’t have the time to linger on it since Junhui opened the door and ushered them inside.

  


«Okay, here’s what we’re gonna do.».

  


He extracted from his backpack a binder so full of pages that it could have exploded from one moment to another and deposited it onto the teacher’s desk. Some of the trinkets on it fell onto the ground but the senior didn’t bother to pick them up.

  


«I’ve spent the entirety of last night printing all of these-» he took out some of the papers from the binder and handed them to Vernon, «so now we just have to choose the best ones.».

  


Vernon examined the paper. It was full of cut-outs taken from newspaper articles, coupled by some pictures and screenshots of the supernatural blogs that Junhui loved to search on the Internet. It was, overall, a complete mess.

  


«Couldn’t you have organized them a little more?».

  


«Aren’t your notes even worse than this?» Junhui rebutted and took out another bunch of pages, «Consider yourself lucky that I divided them by argument or we would have spent the entire evening just doing that.»

  


Vernon gave him a sarcastic laugh. Joshua, who was busy examining one of the stones that had fallen near his feet, received his own share of papers and gave a very concerned look to Junhui.

  


«Are we supposed to sort out every single one of these?».

  


Vernon realized that even after Junhui had taken out quite the number of reports, the binder was still on the verge of breaking down by the insane amount of content in it.

  


«Not in one day. I figured that since you would be here, we could concentrate of the vampire cases so that we can at least eliminate the fake ones.».

  


Joshua hummed in understanding as we was scanning all of the info: «I’ll try to see this as homework then.».

  


«This is worse than homework, trust me.».

  


«Shut it. If you _actually_ did what you’re supposed to do, you would find it very enjoyable and insightful».

  


Vernon pouted at his best friend: «Are you saying I don’t take things seriously?».

  


«Don’t think I didn’t notice you playing with your phone more than once while Chan and I did majority of the work.».

  


«It was one time! I never did it again.» He was aware than his tone was borderline whiny, but he didn’t want to give Joshua the wrong impression. Just because he didn’t believe in supernatural stuff – and still now he was convinced that not every single myth and legend that existed were in fact real -, it didn’t mean that he wanted to leave their friends do everything.

  


And to prove his point, he sat down, snatching Junhui’s share of work from his hands, and started reading the report. He was determined, full of energy despite the boring lessons of the day and ready to prove that he was capable of doing a good job. Or no, not a good job, an amazing one, outstanding even.

  


Thirty minutes later, he realized that maybe he had been a bit too cocky.

  


«Jesus Christ, my head is about to explode.» he rubbed at his forehead. The pain that had slowly started ebbing at his temples was getting unbearable.

  


He hadn’t noticed that Joshua had sit right beside him until he heard his voice coming from his right: «Let me do some part of your work.» he offered as he leaned over Vernon to take the papers, but he stopped him with his hand.

  


«No, it’s okay. I’m a too-ambitious idiot, but at least I’m going to finish it.».

  


Joshua didn’t seem convinced, but then he stood up: «I’m going to the vending machine then. Do you want something Junhui?».

  


Vernon refused with a gesture: «Oh, no no, you don’t have to-».

  


«Some juice is fine, thank you.».

  


«Got it. And don’t worry, I don’t mind stretching my legs a bit.» he said with a shrug to Vernon.

  


The other got to his feet as well: «I can still go myself and I don’t want you to spend money for me-».

  


«It’s barely two dollars, Vernon, I’m not completely broke. And-» he put his hands on the junior’s shoulders and pushed him down, «didn’t you say you wanted to finish your job?».

  


«Uhm, yeah-».

  


«Then finish it. I’ll take care of the beverages.».

  


And then he straight up _winked_ at him, a playful smile on his lips and a confident aura surrounding him. And then he was out, leaving Vernon completely frozen on the spot and his face feeling incredibly warm.

  


_Why does he have that effect on me? Am I so pathetic?_

  


Junhui, of course, was giggling out loud: «Ah, Vernon. If only someone looked at me the way you look at Joshua.».

  


He sighed: «Is it really that obvious?».

  


«Obvious? You’re literally carrying around a sign on your head that says “Property of Joshua Hong”. I’m surprised that he still hasn’t noticed just how hard you have fallen for him.».

  


That sentence surprised him. Had he actually gotten over the crush stage? Had his feelings for Joshua… deepened possibly?

  


Now that he thought about it, things were a lot different compared to their first meeting. Apart from the obvious vampire issue and their blooming friendship, Vernon had started feeling things. Things that were new to him and weren’t there a year ago when he started crushing on him.

  


It wasn’t only the typical stuff, like how every time Joshua laughed or really just grinned he felt the room getting brighter and lighter or how his heart beat stuttered whenever his eyes met the brown-golden of the other. Now there were other things.

  


Like that one time, when they talked about the future and Joshua explained to him his plans to become a teacher, his voice full of passion and determination, and Vernon had suddenly felt warmer and more content all of a sudden. Or another time, when Joshua had been worried about a particularly difficult test and once he had received his result and met Vernon in the library, he jumped from the happiness and showed him the exam, and he had felt incredibly proud of the senior. Or how annoyance would come out whenever he saw Joshua walking for the hallway on his own since his old friends had suddenly stopped hanging out with him because, apparently, he wasn’t worth their time anymore now that he talked with Junhui and the other two weirdos. He almost punched the asshole who had uttered those words behind his back.

  


And recently, when he assured Joshua that he would have waited for him until he was ready to share his worry and he had given him that look of pure thankfulness after spending the entire day feeling gloomy and worried. And Vernon had felt so good for being the one to make Joshua smile again.

  


Oh.

  


This definitely didn’t feel like a crush.

  


This felt like something more.

  


«Holy shit, I think I’m in love with Joshua.».

  


Junhui downright snorted at that: «You think? You even focused on the task I gave you just because you wanted to show off to him. Of course you’re in love, dumbass.».

  


He frowned at that phrase: «Hey, I didn’t do that just because of Joshua. I’m here because I want to help you.».

  


«This is the first time I see you actually trying to help me with anything supernatural related and the only difference is that Joshua is here. I’m not stupid, Vernon.».

  


Oh. Was that how he had come off the other times? Like he didn’t want to spend some time with his friends?

  


«I wasn’t helpful enough?» he said cautiously.

  


Junhui looked surprised by his reaction: «Not exactly. It wasn’t like you weren’t doing anything at all, but, I mean, it didn’t take too long for me to figure out that you weren’t giving a hundred percent like me. Or Chan. Wait, he actually goes sixty or sometimes seventy now that I think-».

  


«I’m so sorry.».

  


Junhui gave a little embarrassed laugh: «Why are you apologizing? I’m not mad at you, I know you don’t believe in the same stuff as me, so of course you weren’t all that serious with our researches and escapades. I know those were pretty much… chores for you.».

  


«They weren’t, absolutely.» he replied, «Yeah, I wasn’t on board like you with the supernatural and, if we’re being honest here, sometimes you were exaggerating. I won’t forget the nightclub incident any time soon.».

  


Junhui scratched his cheek sheepishly: «Yeah, not exactly my best moment, I will admit it.».

  


«But that doesn’t mean I didn’t want to be there. Every single time you dragged us into one of your plans, yeah, I wasn’t expecting to uncover any mystery or find whatever creature you were looking for, but I still enjoyed every single moment of it and if I could, I would do it over and over again. It’s not a chore for me.».

  


Vernon wouldn’t exactly he was someone incapable of saying no to someone, but whenever it came to his friends, he kind of was. No matter how ridiculous or tedious certain things were for him, if Junhui or Chan asked to do them he would. He wouldn’t be happy or one-hundred-percent on board, but he would still do them.

  


Chan had once offered him to go to this Korean restaurant specialized in very spicy food since he was missing home and, despite being terrible with those kind of meals, he still said yes and spent a pleasant evening with him, even if his stomach hadn’t been too happy about it later in the night. He had accompanied Junhui to an anime convention because it didn’t matter how many times the Chinese boy had told him he wasn’t a fan of those type of series despite owning different action figures of many anime series, he knew he wanted to go. All of their escapades looking for supernatural creatures, no matter how reckless and life-threatening had been, were among his fondest memories of his friendship with his other two friends.

  


So, yes, maybe he hadn’t been as serious as Junhui or even Chan, but those were still very important memories to him.

  


Junhui stared at him awe before he broke into a small chuckle: «Even when I almost hit that CEO with a champagne bottle at the nightclub?».

  


«Okay, maybe _not_ all of them. But hey, at least now you know your alcohol tolerance.»

  


«I could have discovered it without getting chased by the bodyguard of a very pissed off CEO.».

  


«Dude, you were the one convinced that the CEO was a demon in disguise. Chan and I tried to stop you, but you didn’t listen.».

  


«I was drunk! What did you expect?» Junhui blurted with a pout. Vernon couldn’t help but laugh at his expression and was quickly followed by the other.

  


That was when Joshua returned with two bottles in his hands: «Mhm? What did I lose?».

  


«Have I ever told you how Jun almost got sued for aggression?» Vernon said before the Chinese boy slapped his arm with a squeak to shut him up.

  


After an hour of work and recollection of their adventures looking for supernatural stuff, the group decided it was time to go home. The days were getting shorter and colder, the sun was already hidden behind the horizon and the oranges and reds of the sunset were slowly disappearing, leaving a soft purple in their place.

  


«You have to take the bus, right Joshua?» Junhui asked once they had stepped out of the school building, barely avoiding the janitor roaming for the hallways. Since the CCCU club had never been officially approved, they couldn’t risk to accidentally get closed inside of their high school and get discovered by good old Mr. Thompson.

  


«Oh, you too? Cool.» the other grinned at the implicit request.

  


«It’s a shame Vernon didn’t bring the car today, though.» Junhui interlaced his fingers behind his head and yawned.

  


«I’m not your personal driver.» he rolled his eyes, «You could always get one. Didn’t you take your license?».

  


«Not all of us are rich enough to afford their own car.».

  


«But I use my parents car!».

  


«I know, I wasn’t talking about you. Or are you secretly super rich and you are just pretending to be poor like the rest of us?» Junhui continued with the teasing.

  


«I wish.» Vernon played along with a smile.

  


«Honestly, I can see you portray the image of the young CEO that acquires a company from his parents.» Joshua suddenly said.

  


Junhui quickly scanned Vernon and hummed in agreement: «Yeah. Even if your fashion sense is as good as putting salt instead of sugar inside of coffee.».

  


«Thanks, Jun.» he grumbled. His clothes were perfectly fine, he wouldn’t have stopped wearing his colorful sweaters and beanies any time soon.

  


«No problem.».

  


Joshua also gave a brief look to his outfit: «Well, to be honest, if I was a CEO with a face like yours, I would go to work even in my pajamas.»

  


Vernon immediately felt himself getting red at that comment. And of course Junhui would take the bait: «Are you telling me that you think Vernon’s hot?» he asked with a smirk.

  


He expected Joshua to disagree and explain that no, he was just exaggerating. Vernon was aware of his good looks, but he wouldn’t consider himself hot. At least, not when compared to the work of art that was Junhui, with his big doe eyes, small face and amazing body proportion.

  


But Joshua’s answer went to a completely direction.

  


«Objectively speaking, yes. I think you’re handsome.».

  


And he said that with such a casualty and seriousness, as if he had just given Junhui the definition of a word, that Vernon literally tripped and almost ended up on the ground if it weren’t for the vampire grabbing the back of his jacket at the last minute. Thankfully they had reached the bus station, he didn’t trust his feet to support him not even for a meter of walking.

  


«Oh, watch out.» He helped straighten him up and gave him a concerned look.

  


«It’s fine, I just wasn’t expecting that.» he waved a hand in front of him.

  


«What? That I find you attractive?».

  


An intelligible noise came from his mouth: «Y-Yeah?».

  


«Well, I was being objective.» he shrugged, «I find you and Junhui attractive and Chan’s pretty cute too. And I do consider myself good-looking. We’re all good-looking.».

  


Oh. So that was what he meant.

  


Of course, Joshua wouldn’t have just complimented him randomly, he was giving his opinion not only on him but also his best friends. And on himself because who wouldn’t praise themselves if they had Joshua’s face?

  


But for some reason he felt disappointed after that sentence.

  


«Uhm, thank you then.» he ended up saying, not quite meeting the vampire’s eyes, «And, for the record, I also think you’re attractive.».

  


He expected the other to quietly accept the comment and move on, or to blush a little and cheekily denying the statement.

  


But this was Joshua Hong, and Vernon should have learned that he was unpredictable.

  


Because of course the senior would grow a smile very different from the usual, something that didn’t seem so innocent and pure, and uttered: «Is that so?».

  


«O-Objectively speaking! I was being objective, right Jun?».

  


Junhui didn’t answer at him. In fact, Vernon was surprised that he hadn’t made any inconvenient comments or teasing remarks during their exchange.

  


He focused his attention to the Chinese boy and found him looking around, moving his head from one corner of the street to the other, suspicion and confusion clouding his gaze.

  


«Is everything okay, Jun?» he asked. Now Joshua was also looking around in search of whatever had unsettled his best friend.

  


«I-» he mumbled without stopping his movements, «Am I the only one that feels… watched?».

  


He felt a shiver running through his back. He did a turn on the spot, scanning the area in search of people or something weird, but he didn’t find anything: «I don’t see anyone, though.».

  


Junhui hummed, he had stopped his search but he still looked unsure: «I don’t know. For some reason, I felt like someone was following us.».

  


«I would have smelled them.» Joshua promptly said, «Right now only the three of us are outside, I can smell other people but they are all inside of their houses.».

  


Junhui sighed and quickly rubbed at his eyes: «Maybe it was just my imagination. Sorry.».

  


«It’s fine. Better to be always alert, after all.» he reassured him with a shrug and a smile, «Oh. The bus is coming.».

  


And after a couple of seconds, the vehicle stopped in front of them and a few people got down. Junhui and Joshua took their places right after. He raised a hand and waved at them: «See you next week.».

  


Junhui gave him a nod, he seemed lost in his thoughts, probably thinking about that sensation, while Joshua reciprocated the gesture: «Be careful, okay?»

  


«Of course.».

  


The doors closed and Vernon saw the bus slowly getting away from him until it disappeared in the distance. Only then he started walking again.

  


He gave one last look around, just to make sure that there wasn’t anything out of the ordinary, but of course he didn’t find it. He shook his head, of course everything was okay, Joshua had assured them that he would have immediately sensed it if someone was keeping watch of them. Nobody could hide the smell of their blood.

  


With that thought in mind, he closed his jacket around him and made its way home, trying to get rid of all the crude images that were piling up in his head.

  


Nobody was behind him. He was the only person currently outside.

  


The only human being.

  


Right.

  


  


‹(˅⃝˅)›

  


  


The following weekend was quite the uneventful one.

  


Chan was still busy with the group project and had spent majority of his time absorbing information from a book or doing online study sessions with his classmates. Junhui’s mother had decided that it was due time that they officially met their neighbors and managed to rope in his son. Apparently she wanted to use the classic technique of the “Hi, I baked some blueberry muffins but I accidentally made a little more than I initially planned, would you be interested in eating them with us?” but he didn’t know if the plan had actually worked or not. He probably should have texted him.

  


Except Vernon had been busy texting Joshua instead.

  


It had started with him sending Joshua a picture of his laptop with the music program he used for creating his songs opened, quickly followed by the text _Working on it_ and a smiley face. He had first debated about using other emojis until he had eventually settled for the simplest one. It was best to start slow, after all.

  


Ten minutes later he had received an answer.

  


  


**_Joshua_ **

****

_Yay!_

_How’s going?_

  


That had been the catalyst for their long conversation through phones that would have lasted for the entire evening of the Saturday. They talked about everything, from that one recent movie they had both seen to how Joshua was feeling. Again, the senior hadn’t gone into details, but at least he had seemed a lot more peppy and relaxed. He could settle for so little if that meant that Joshua was feeling a little better.

  


That had led to Vernon spending the next day literally glued to his computer trying to make some progress, talking with Joshua had been wonderful but he had promised him a song soon, he had to maintain his word.

  


«Did you study all day?» his mom asked him later at dinner and he didn’t have the heart to tell her that rather than historical facts and dates, his brain had memorized beats and melodies. So he lied.

  


«Mhm, absolutely.».

  


His dad then gave him a proud look: «Good, good. But remember that you should also spend your time with your friends. And maybe a girlfriend or boyfriend?».

  


Suddenly an image flashed in his mind, of Joshua sitting with them for a meal and Vernon almost choked on his water at that comment and sighed as his parents and younger sister laughed at the unfortunate event.

  


«Is there something you want to tell us, son?» his mom asked with a knowing smile.

  


«M-Maybe another time.».

  


«Hey, I want all of the details!» Suddenly his sister exclaimed, «What’s their name? Do I know them? Are they cute? Do they have cute brothers?».

  


«Calm down, you’re still too young for a boyfriend, Sofia.» he playfully flicked her forehead, she scrunched her nose at that, «And there’s nobody right now. I’m still single.».

  


_And it’ll probably remain like that_

  


Despite having talked for an entire day and spending quite a lot of time together, he still had no idea of what Joshua thought of him.

  


They weren’t simple acquaintances anymore, not even classmates. Friends was probably the closest thing to their relationship, but every time he thought about that label, his stomach would churn. Maybe it was because of his own feelings, or maybe because he had noticed that Joshua treated him differently compared to Chan or Junhui. He was more calm and collected with them, with his trademark politeness and softness always being there, but whenever there were only him and Vernon, his dorkier side came out. He was more loud and carefree, he loved teasing him to death and sometimes he would transform into a full on comedian. He was never going to forget that one time Joshua had suggested a freestyle rap competition between the two of them and Vernon had ended up forfeiting because of how much the other had made him laugh with his ridiculous verses.

  


They were close, yes, and he was getting very good at reading him, but he was still very far from understanding how the vampire’s heart worked and what were his feelings.

  


And since Vernon had no intention of confessing to him, afraid that Joshua saw him solely as a friend and would feel awkward around him if he came out with what he felt for him, his relationship status wouldn’t change anytime soon.

  


Now that he actually internalized that thought, he couldn’t help but feel sulky a little.

  


And so Monday came with Vernon feeling a lot less happy about having realized he had fallen in love with Joshua.

  


But he pushed it down once he noticed Chan taking his stuff from his locker with downturned lips.

  


«Is everything okay?» he asked as he opened his own locker next to Chan’s.

  


«Err, kind of? Not really?».

  


Vernon crossed his arms: «What’s bothering you?».

  


«It’s- Argh, okay.» he sighed and closed the locker, «Do you know that dance studio that opened recently?».

  


«The one near Jun’s house?».

  


«That one. So, I looked it up and I’ve discovered a bunch of amazing things. Like, all of the courses they offer look incredible and the instructors are, like, kind of famous. You know how I thought about finding a professional place where I could learn and move on from YouTube videos and this one sounds like the perfect place for me. Exactly was I was looking for.».

  


«But…?».

  


«But I don’t know what my parents will say. You know what they think of dancing in general.» Chan muttered with his gaze low.

  


Vernon chewed at his lips, trying to come up with something: «Have you tried talking to them about it?».

  


«I sent some hints and they didn’t seem very happy about the idea. They’re still convinced that medicine will be my future or whatever.».

  


Vernon didn’t exactly know what to say. It wasn’t a secret that Chan’s parents had never seen in a good way their son’s aspiration to undertake an artistic career rather than becoming a doctor just like them. Adding to that their strict nature resulted in a pretty toxic environment for Chan to grow up into. He had lost count of how many times the younger had arrived in front of his perch in tears due to yet another argument with his family and he had to consequently collect all of the pieces.

  


He was in a difficult situation and, for now, he still hadn’t found a proper solution. The only thing Vernon could do was support him as much as he could.

  


«I think you should go for it.» he said encouragingly.

  


Chan gave him as an answer a small nod: «I don’t know. I’ll have to think about it a little more.».

  


Vernon wanted to add something, but he stopped once he noticed that Chan was waving at someone behind him, but then the younger slowly lowered his hand and his smile faded. Vernon turned around and saw Joshua coming towards them.

  


But there was something wrong with him.

  


«Hi. Is everything okay?» he greeted and glanced quickly at the vampire’s appearance.

  


At first, he looked fine, just like any regular day. But then he noticed that his skin tone was a slight shade lighter than usual, his hair didn’t look as radiant as before and when his fingers grazed the other’s hand, he felt them even colder than usual.

  


«Uhm, y-yeah. Absolutely.» Joshua replied.

  


Neither him or Chan bought it. The vampire quickly decided it would have been better to be honest.

  


«Okay. I- I forgot my thermos at home.».

  


«Hold on, what?» Vernon said surprised.

  


«Yeah, I- We- Jeonghan and I had an argument this morning and I got so angry that I stormed out without checking my bag. Halfway on the bus, I realized I didn’t have it.».

  


«Shouldn’t you go back then?» Chan asked with worry in his tone.

  


«No, it’s fine. It’s okay. I can survive one day without blood. I’m perfectly capable of that.» he reassured. Vernon didn’t like the fact that Joshua seemed to be telling that to himself rather than them. He had never been clear about the amount of blood he needed to sustain himself, but Vernon had noticed that he always consumed it during lunchtime at school, he even once caught him sipping a bit from his thermos during the tutoring club.

  


«Are you sure? I can-».

  


«Yes. I don’t want to skip class, after all I- I don’t need to drink that much blood, everything’s going to be fine. Don’t worry.».

  


Vernon wasn’t convinced in the slightest, but then the bell started ringing and before he could say anything else, Joshua passed over them and entered the closest classroom to them without other words. He looked back to Chan, he also was worried about the senior.

  


«Do you think he’ll really be okay?».

  


Vernon could only sigh as he briefly looked at the classroom’s door: «I hope so.».

  


_I can check up on him at lunch_ , that’s what he told himself to calm his anxiety down. And if he saw something with him, he would have brought him back to the Seventeen. He had no idea how actually good Joshua’s control over his thirst was – he still had spent an entire night with an injured Junhui and he had been perfectly fine the next morning, but he probably had fed during the day -, but he couldn’t risk it. The last thing Joshua needed was to accidentally bite someone in a fit of insanity. They couldn’t let that happen.

  


But he didn’t show up at lunch.

  


That sent the first alarm going in his head.

  


«Hey, what’s wrong?» Junhui, clever as always, immediately noticed that something was amiss, «Where’s Joshua?».

  


«He didn’t bring his thermos today.».

  


«Shit, the one with the blood?!» he basically yelled. Chan sushed him with a smack on his shoulder.

  


«We don’t need anybody else to know it.» Junhui pouted at him while rubbing at his arm.

  


«So what’s he gonna do? Is he okay?» he asked as he looked around, probably trying to find the vampire, but then he quickly realized he wasn’t there. Vernon had already done that with no success.

  


«I don’t know. I wanted to take him home by car, I hoped he was going to be here.» he quickly devoured his sandwich before he stood up, «I’m going to look for him.».

  


«Wait, let me finish my lunch first!» Junhui called him but he ignored it and left the cafeteria. He couldn’t stay still on a chair and hope that Joshua would miraculously appear in front of him, he had to still be somewhere in the school.

  


But it didn’t matter where he searched, the senior was nowhere to be found. Not in a stall inside the restroom, not in the library where he sometimes spent his lunch, not in the CCCU clubroom. Eventually Chan and Junhui had joined, but nobody was lucky enough to find the vampire. And soon the break time ended and they had to get back to their classrooms.

  


«Don’t worry, I share a class with him now. I’ll text if something happens, okay?» Junhui told him and gave his shoulder a squeeze. Vernon nodded and quietly thanked him, he had to stay positive. Nothing was going to happen.

  


And sure enough, thirty minutes later, Junhui sent him a message.

  


  


**_Jun_ **

****

_He’s here. He seems okay more or less, but he’s shivering_

_a lot._

Vernon clenched his phone in his hands at that sentence. He had no idea of what Joshua was feeling right now and it was killing him. Was he in pain? Did he have a fever? Could vampires get fevers?

  


He shook his head to get rid of those thoughts. Worrying now wouldn’t have helped him, he had to be patient and wait for the end of the class, then he would have brought him home with his car and everything would have resolved.

  


That was what he kept telling himself during the lesson, staring intently at the clock hanging on the wall hoping that time would pass faster. And when finally the hour was over, Vernon picked all of his stuff and literally catapulted himself out of the room. He had no idea of where Joshua’s classroom was located, so he opted for waiting at the entrance.

  


And after ten minutes, there it was the senior.

  


He looked so much worse compared to the morning. He looked more pale than before, his eyes and cheeks somehow were hollowed out and he didn’t miss the entire tremor running all over his body. He barely looked alive.

  


He couldn’t help but wrap his arms around him as soon as Joshua reached him, ignoring whatever the other students were whispering around him: «Hey. Everything’s okay.» he whispered into the crown of his hair. Despite already wearing his coat and a scarf, he was freezing.

  


But then Joshua immediately wiggled away from his grip: «D-Don’t touch me. Please.».

  


Vernon was stunned but he complied: «Okay. I’ll walk behind you, then. Let’s go to the car.».

  


The vampire jumped at that suggestion: «What? I-I don’t want you to take me home.».

  


«It’s going to be faster than the bus-».

  


«It doesn’t matter. I can go myself-».

  


«No, you can’t!» He didn’t want to raise his voice, especially now that every single person in the hallway was looking at them. He spotted Junhui and Chan among the crowd, both of them looking equally concerned for the vampire, «You clearly aren’t okay. Let me help you.» he repeated, this time in a softer tone.

  


«I don’t want to stay in a closed space with you.».

  


That comment hurt a little, but he pushed down the sting. Joshua didn’t really mean it, he knew that: «Because clearly a bus with the triple amount of people is better. Let’s go.».

  


«I said I don’t want to-».

  


«Joshua, _please_.» he looked at him with desperation in his tone. He wasn’t going to let him walk out alone, he wasn’t going to let him hurt others or himself. He knew Joshua would have beaten himself up if he had attacked someone on the way home. He wasn’t going to let him stain his selfless heart by his own hands.

  


The senior stared at him, his eyes full of emotion and too many thoughts and words that didn’t find a voice and his hands covered by the sleeves of his sweater around Vernon’s trembling. He looked so scared, so terrified.

  


«I don’t want to hurt you.».

  


«You won’t. I know you won’t. Everything will be fine.» he tightened the grip on his hand, fingers slotting in between his.

  


«Let me take you home.».

  


Joshua didn’t say a word. But then he lowered his head, giving him the barely visible nod, and Vernon let a smile paint on his lips. He gently tugged him outside, Joshua let himself be guided keeping his gaze on the ground, his head didn’t raise not even once until they reached the car. Vernon opened the door for him and reluctantly let his hands slid off, he didn’t try to initiate any contact tough when the senior climbed onto the car and quickly got onto the driver’s seat.

  


«Is there anything else I can do to help you?» he softly asked.

  


«Just focus on d-driving.».

  


Vernon didn’t want to leave him like that, curled up in a ball on the seat and his skin starting to turn an unnatural grayish shade, but he also didn’t want to bother him. Who knew if talking was helpful, maybe it was harmful, he should have just listened to him.

  


Luck came to their side in the form of empty streets and barely any cars on the road. Vernon accelerated as much as the laws permitted, sometimes glancing over Joshua to see if something had changed. Unfortunately, and probably fortunately, nothing happened and the senior was still there, hugging his legs to himself and his face pressed against the backpack on his lap. A part of him was glad he couldn’t see his face, it would have hurt him to see once again Joshua’s decaying state.

  


However, he couldn’t control himself once they reached a red light and a pained whine came out from the vampire’s mouth.

  


«I’m sorry. We’ll be there soon.» he raised an hand to put it on the other’s shoulder but then remembered Joshua had asked him not to touch him and lowered it again. It was fine, he told himself, he could already see the red-light district in the distance, soon Joshua would have gotten better.

  


His phone started going off and Vernon turned to the back seat where his backpack was abandoned. He reached for the bag and dug his hand in to find it. It probably was Junhui or Chan, wanting to know how the senior was. He should have answered now that they weren’t moving.

  


That was the moment when their luck run out.

  


That was the moment when Vernon leaned back a little too much, lost his balance for a moment and his finger grazed the paper of his notebook. That was the moment when he hissed at the sudden pain and moved his hand back.

  


And there it was, on his index, a small paper cut.

  


That paper cut was enough for Joshua to explode.

  


The red light became green exactly when Joshua let out a scream and jumped out of the car, slowly backing away from Vernon with his hands tightly covering his mouth and nose.

  


He ignored the car behind him honking at them and got out of the vehicle: «Joshua, wait!».

  


«Stay there! Don’t move!».

  


Vernon halted after his words, there was only Joshua’s bag separating them but in that moment it felt like a huge wall had just appeared in front of him. The wind bristled around them, the car surpassed them uncaring of the silent storm happening at the front.

  


Joshua was almost unrecognizable, his skin incredibly pale and his eyes shining of an unnatural gold. Ragged breath were coming out from his covered mouth and the shivering had considerably worsened. For a second, Vernon feared that the senior would crumble dead at his feet.

  


«Joshua, it’s okay-».

  


«No, it’s not!» he yelled back. He had never heard a voice like that, strangled and tremulous but at the same time loud and imperative. If desperation were to be a person, that would be how its voice would sound like.

  


Vernon swallowed: «We’re almost at the Seventeen. Just get in the car, please.».

  


«No, I can’t. Y-You have to get away from me right now or I don’t know what else is gonna happen.».

  


«Nothing is going to happen. Listen to me, I’m begging you-».

  


The moment he tried to move forward, Joshua immediately jumped back: «Don’t take another fucking step!».

  


Even if his mind was screaming at him to disobey the order, Vernon willed himself to stop. Making Joshua angry wouldn’t have helped anybody, he had to calm the other down: «Joshua. Listen, I know you’re scared to hurt me-» the vampire flinched at that phrase, the hands in front of his mouth tightening, «but it’s not going to happen. I know that you can control yourself. You managed to survive the entire school day without jumping anyone-».

  


«No o-one has that smell.».

  


Vernon felt his eyes widen a little. So that was the main problem: «You mean the smell of my blood.»

  


«Yes. T-That’s why you have to get away from me. That smell is… too much for me.» Finally, he moved his hands, revealing his blue-tinted lips and elongated canines, «I-I can’t do this.».

  


«You just spent ten minutes with me, in a car, and you didn’t do anything. We’re so close to the Seventeen, I’m sure you can last for another five minutes.».

  


«No. V-Vernon, you don’t understand.».

  


«What? What do I not understand? What’s the problem?».

  


«I’m the problem!» he suddenly snapped, «Don’t you get it? I’m dangerous, I’m a monster capable of killing you in less than two seconds.».

  


«What are you saying? You’re not a monster, you would never kill me or anybody else.».

  


«What makes you so sure of that?».

  


Vernon started getting frustrated: «I know you! I fucking know you!».

  


«No. You know the Joshua Hong who wakes up every day convinced that he can be a normal person, a human being. You know the pathetic loser who’s incapable of accepting his new reality and deludes himself into thinking that everything’s okay, even when he can’t eat or drink anything expect for blood or can’t get close to people anymore afraid that they might leave him behind after discovering the truth.» Joshua looked so desperate, his eyes were wet but no tears came out of them, «Look, I can’t even cry! I can’t fucking cry, how can I keep living life just like before? How could I be so stupid and naïve to believe that?».

  


«Joshua, please, I’m begging you, you have to calm down-».

  


«But you know what’s the worst part?» His lips curled and his voice cracked, «It’s the fact that, at one point, I convinced myself that we could have gone somewhere.»

  


In that moment, Vernon swore he felt his heart stop in his chest, he felt all of the air leaving his lungs, he felt all of his brain cells shutting down one after another.

  


«I was so sure that we could have been something. It didn’t matter how many times Jeonghan told me to be careful and not get too attached to you, every time I saw your face I couldn’t help but gravitate towards you.» He was smiling now, a sad yet beautiful smile, «You’re… amazing, You’re so funny and kind and smart. You value so much your friendship with Junhui and Chan and would rather get hurt rather than hurting them. You didn’t hesitate one second to help me when I turned up to your house drenched in blood, even when I was the reason why Junhui was attacked. You’re so talented with your music and I don’t need to listen to a single song to know that, and you’re so, so goddamn cute when you’re flustered. You have no idea how much fun is to tease you. Your nose and your cheeks and your ears become super red and you do this adorable thing with your mouth. I really, really want to kiss it. And hold your hand. Just be with you in general.».

  


And then, in the span of a second, the smile slid off from his face: «And now I know why Jeonghan warned me about you. Now I know what he meant. We- We can’t be a thing. Not now, or ever. And that’s all because of me.».

  


Vernon was speechless. Amidst the chaos that were Joshua’s words, he couldn’t believe that the vampire had managed to squeeze in a confession. He didn’t know what to say or what to think even. Was he happy to discover that apparently Joshua had feelings for him? Yes. But he also couldn’t help but be upset.

  


It wasn’t right. It wasn’t right for him or Joshua. This wasn’t how things were supposed to go.

  


Somehow, he managed to find his voice again: «Why are you saying that?».

  


Joshua let out a broken laugh: «Look at me, Vernon. I’m no different from a corpse. How could we ever have a normal relationship?».

  


«No, you can’t say that. Not-Not after everything, you can’t say that to me.».

  


But then, in the span of a second, Joshua completely changed. Gone was the sadness from his face, gone was the warmth, the vulnerability, the Joshua he had gotten to know. Now in his place there was just a shell barely capable of standing, nothing but blankness and detachment were present on his face.

  


And the distant, far-away look returned.

  


And suddenly Vernon realized what had been bugging Joshua so much, why had he been so on edge since they had discovered his secret.

  


«Joshua, d-don’t-».

  


«This is a goodbye, Vernon.» he announced, «It’s better if we stay far away from each other.» he said before suddenly heading towards the sidewalk behind them.

  


Vernon wasn’t having none of that. He gripped at his coat and forcefully turned him around once Joshua had gotten close to him: «Don’t do this, stop-».

  


Suddenly he got pushed to the ground, Joshua towering over him with probably the most terrifying expression he had ever seen. His eyes, usually so bright and gentle, were now two sharp knives with nothing in them, no smile grazed his lips and there was a complete absence of emotion on his face.

  


For the first time, Vernon genuinely was scared.

  


That wasn’t Joshua Hong, the kind and sweet boy he had fallen head over heels for. That was a vampire, a predator, a creature ready to defend itself at whatever cost.

  


But… creatures defended themselves only when they feel threatened, scared.

  


But now that he looked closer, his face wasn’t a blank canvas at all. His jaw was clenched, his mouth forcefully closed and his hands curled in fists at his sides.

  


No, that wasn’t a vampire. That was just a broken person, a person incapable of facing the world and that could only hide behind fake coldness.

  


« _Goodbye_ , Vernon.»

  


And then he walked off, his posture rigid and confident, not once looking behind him.

  


  


‹(˅⃝˅)›

  


  


For a minute, a very long and dreadful minute, Vernon stayed there on the ground, immobile and staring at Joshua’s figure slowly getting smaller and smaller. A logical person would stand up, realize that it was futile arguing with a too stubborn and too upset person and get on the car.

  


Vernon, however, wasn’t a very logical person. On the contrary, emotions guided him on a daily basis. Chan hadn’t lied when he had declared Junhui to be the brain of the group, he was the one capable of assessing the situation with a more objective and calm perspective in order to determine the best course. Even when he was particularly angry, even when he had followed Joshua enraged and subsequently got attacked he had followed some sort of logic.

  


But Vernon? Vernon was the one who made stupid decisions.

  


And that was why, instead of getting home and wait for the other to cool off, he got to his feet and started sprinting towards Joshua.

  


«Wait!».

  


The vampire whipped his head to him and a mixture of confusion and anger appeared on his face, and then he also started running.: «Leave me alone!».

  


«No! You-You can’t just pour your heart to me and then leave!».

  


«Please, go away. I don’t want to hurt you!».

  


«I know you won’t, I trust you and your control!».

  


To an outsider, the scene would have looked absolutely ridiculous. Two teenagers running for the streets and shouting their feelings to each other, like a cat chasing a mouse. If his heart wasn’t on the verge of breaking in half and his emotional state was better, Vernon would have laughed at the situation.

  


The lack of blood was starting to show because Joshua was considerably slowing down compared to the other. Once Vernon crossed the entrance of the red-light district, the distance between him and the vampire had reduced and it didn’t take too long for him to corner the other into the alleyway leading to the Seventeen by blocking one of the exit.

  


«Joshua-» he began, but then he paused to take a deep breath. This wasn’t how the confession of his dreams was going to be, but then again he would have never imagined that the senior would have been the one to take the first step, «please… wait a-a second and lis-listen to me.».

  


Joshua’s immediate response was to run under one of Vernon’s outstretched arm but he easily blocked him and pushed him back. He must have been exhausted by the sudden marathon on top of his thirst.

  


That didn’t stop him from protesting once again: «For the love of God, Vernon, give up! I don’t want to see or speak with you. It’s over between us.».

  


«No. It can’t be ov-over if we didn’t even begin.» he said, now feeling suddenly confident.

  


Joshua pressed himself against the wall, a hand again covering half of his face: «I don’t want to see you ever again. Now go away.» He probably wanted it to sound like a threat, but it came out more like a mumbled whine.

  


«Not until you calm down and actually listen to me.».

  


«Why? You won’t change my mind.».

  


«You’re upset and weak, you aren’t thinking clearly. Once you’ve calmed down and drunk some blood, if you still don’t want to have anything to do with me, then I’ll go away. But until then, I’m not moving.».

  


«Even after that, I’ll still be dangerous to you. I can’t live between human like this, I should be buried in a coffin under meters of land right now!».

  


Vernon felt his hands curling into fists: «Don’t say that ever again! Didn’t you say you wanted to become a teacher, that you were too scared to die so young and leave everything behind?».

  


«But that was before I lost everything! My parents refuse to acknowledge me, my friends turned their back on me, hell, probably there’re some vampires at the Seventeen that don’t like me! What value does life have if there’s nobody at my side?».

  


«Are you saying that I’m nobody? Or Jun? Or Chan?».

  


Joshua diverted his gaze at that.

  


«Jun is incredibly grateful to you for having helped us the other day, and Chan was stocked to have you join our club. They’re really happy about getting to know you and before they even helped me looking for you at school. They’re probably even more worried than I am.» he continued, «And what if I told that they were both pretty invested in whatever is going with us? That they’re always pushing me to- to ask you out.».

  


At that the other’s golden eyes became huge, his hand slowly came down to reveal his mouth in the shape of an O.

  


Vernon felt himself blush. Of course he was getting embarrassed even in this situation: «The truth is- I- You aren’t the only one who wants to hold hands or kiss. Y-You probably noticed, right? I’ve been told I’m not exactly subtle.» he rubbed at his neck with a chuckle.

  


«Vernon, what-».

  


He took a deep breath, let it out and then looked at him in the eye. There was no turning back now. If confessing was the only way to make him listen, then he had no choice.

  


«The truth is- Joshua, I-I really, really-» he interrupted himself with a gulp, fumbled with his hair a little and then raised his gaze again to meet Joshua’s, «I am in love with-».

  


But before he could finish that sentence, someone grabbed him from behind and pinned him against the wall. He immediately tried to wriggle out but all efforts were useless, the hand fisted in his collar stayed there. He blinked and saw a ferocious pair of golden eyes staring back at him.

  


«My, my. What do we have here?».

  


Vernon could only stare at the vampire in front of him. She was nothing less than gorgeous, with silky black hair and elegant features. She would have perfectly fitted in one of those high fashion magazines that Sofia loved to read if it weren’t for the sharp teeth poking out from her scarlet lips.

  


A grunt of pain coming not too far from them made him look away and he realized with horror that the girl wasn’t alone. There were two other vampires currently gripping at Joshua’s arms, who in turn was moving around with harsh and forceful movements. It didn’t matter how much he fought, the two females didn’t even budge and he remained glued to the brick wall kneeling.

  


«Is this what I think it is, _unnie_?» one of them innocently asked, as if she was conversing in front of a cup of tea instead of forcing a vampire taller and double her size to his knees with such ease. And the scariest part was that she looked so much younger compared to all of them, barely resembling a fifteen year old kid.

  


«I think so, Yerim.» the other one with a short blonde bob replied, «I think we just interrupted a love confession. Oh, how romantic!».

  


«Why are you here?» Joshua questioned, there was nothing but rage swimming in his pupils, «I thought we had reached an agreement!».

  


«Yeah, but we didn’t like the agreement, so we broke it.» the vampire in front of Vernon answered with a shrug. She didn’t turn to face the senior, too busy examining his face for some reason, «After all, you hurt our precious Yerim, we can’t let you get away with it.» she added. A cold finger suddenly traced his cheek with such gentleness and care that would have fooled Vernon into a sense of safety if it weren’t for the hand currently blocking his airway.

  


He willed the bile threatening to rise from his stomach to go down. They had to be the vampires who attacked Junhui and Joshua.

  


«What? You can’t do that!» Joshua tried again to free himself but with no success. Either those vampires were incredibly strong or he was just too tired and weak to fight back. Things weren’t looking good for them.

  


«Wow, that human really smells good. Why didn’t you mention that he’s an A type, Sooyoung?» the blonde vampire whined.

  


His attacker huffed: «I told you to come with me, that’s what you get for leaving me with all of the hard work. You know how hard it is to keep watch of a school full of course meals without feeding of of them? I must say, fledging, you really have an amazing control over your thirst if you haven’t drank not even from one of the students.» she then gasped exaggeratedly, «Unless you actually have found a personal bag of blood.»

  


She raised her free hand and slowly, almost sensually, stroked at Vernon’s neck: «You wouldn’t mind sharing, am I right?».

  


He immediately went rigid.

  


«No! Leave him alone, he doesn’t have anything to do with all of this!».

  


«Don’t worry, I’ll make sure that his blood won’t get wasted.» she lowered her mouth onto his skin, «Not even one drop.».

  


And then she sink her teeth in.

  


For a second, Vernon blacked out. His brain shut down completely, he couldn’t hear or feel anything except for the warmth coming from the vampire’s mouth. For a moment everything almost looked… peaceful.

  


And then suddenly came the pain, rushing in like a wave colliding against the rocks of a cliff.

  


A scream of pain erupted from his lips. He quickly raised his arms and tried to push her away, but he quickly realized that he couldn’t. No matter how much he willed his hands to grab her, to move, to do something, they remained there suspended in mid air. They felt cold and numb, as if they weren’t a part of him anymore. And the feeling started spreading all over his body. Soon everything felt foreign to him, even his own mouth or eyes didn’t respond to his command.

  


_Fuck. The toxin._

  


And then suddenly the girl released him, his legs gave out almost immediately after and he tumbled onto the floor with his head low and back against the wall. He could feel blood trickle down his neck, he couldn’t even shiver at the sensation. He was nothing more than a limp doll now.

  


«Mhm, not bad. Truly not bad.».

  


The voices around him were still clear, so at least his senses were still functional. He could actually move his tongue a little, but there was no way he would have been able to form sentences or even words. Only a noise of protest came from his throat.

  


«Yerim, want to taste it a little? You never tried A type, right?».

  


«Oh, how is it? Sweet like O?».

  


«Even sweeter, it’s more similar to AB actually. Like a strawberry with chocolate and whipped cream. I’m sure you’ll love it.».

  


«Hey, leave it for me too, girls! You know A is my favorite.».

  


«Of course, Seungwan- _unnie_.».

  


Vernon hated the fact that they didn’t consider him as a person. Instead, he was the meal, the dinner, nothing more than food. He wasn’t one for violence, but if he could he would have gladly punched all of them in the face, maybe knock out the canines and mess up their pretty faces.

  


He was remembered of Joshua’s presence thanks to his cry: «Stop it, don’t hurt him anymore!» He wanted to look at him and tell him to calm down and that he was okay, even if that would have been a lie.

  


« _Unnie_ , I have an idea.».

  


He heard footsteps in front of him, then a grunt of pain coming from Joshua and suddenly the senior appeared in his line of vision. Now he was laying onto the concrete, the blonde girl forcefully moving his head by the hair and their gaze finally met. Joshua’s eyes were fully gold now, but also wet and full of fear in them.

  


Then someone took a hold of his own hair and he found himself looking at the youngest of the group, who had a huge and happy smile on her face: «Isn’t it better like this? You two get to see each other one last time before we finish with you. Isn’t it romantic?».

  


«You really are a naughty one, Yerim.» The black-haired vampire, Sooyoung, commented. She had taken Yerim’s place and was now holding both of Joshua’s hands behind his back. The angle must have been excruciating for him.

  


«I’m begging you, stop! Please, stop!».

  


«Then you shouldn’t have hurt Yerim or any of us.» The blondie said viciously, «If you had let us feed from that annoying human, none of this wouldn’t have happened. Your precious boy wouldn’t have been here and all of us would be safely at home. This is all your fault.».

  


Joshua scrunched his eyes close and a broken sob came out from him. Vernon was feeling sick. He couldn’t watch the scene anymore, he couldn’t let them belittle Joshua anymore.

  


«N-No…».

  


Suddenly all of their gazes fixed back on Vernon: «What?».

  


«N-No… no-oth… yu-urr… fuu-ur…» He had channeled all of his remaining strength in that sentence. If that would have really been the last moment they spent together, he wasn’t going to die and let Joshua blame himself for it.

  


«Oss-sua… do-on’… cr-ry…» He felt tears welling up in his eyes, «Is n-noth… yur… faul’…».

  


Joshua didn’t say anything but simply stared back at him, his eyes were already conveying everything that he wanted to say. There was regret, fear, sadness, but most of all Vernon saw affection. He saw affection, love, and that was enough for him.

  


«V-Vernon…» he mumbled with so much care and gentleness. That was when Vernon’s tears couldn’t help but fall.

And then came the pain again. He hadn’t noticed Yerim lunging at his neck and let out a pained whine. His eyes, however, didn’t waver from Joshua’s. He wanted to be the last thing he saw, he wanted to be that beautiful person to accompany him during his last breath, he just wanted Joshua Hong.

  


He was getting light-headed, black spots were starting to appear in front of him.

  


«I… I-I lu-uv… y-you…».

  


And despite the infinite amount of sorrow and distress, Joshua didn’t look away either and gave him a breathtaking smile. Despite the sharp teeth, the hollowed out face and the dirt and blood, he gave him one last breathtaking smile.

  


Vernon would have never forgotten that moment in his life. Never.

  


Nor would he have ever forgotten the following events.

  


«Get the fuck away from him, bitch!».

  


Footsteps coming towards them, a voice that suspiciously sounded like Junhui’s, a shout, something wet all over his face, someone pushed the vampire away from him, the other two quickly jumped in to help her but the blonde one suddenly was on her knees and her hands covering her face while she was wailing in pain, Joshua’s stupefied expression and then finally another familiar voice.

  


« _Hyung!_ ».

  


Vernon had never been so happy in his life to see Chan.

  


« _Hyung_ , are you okay? What happened here?».

  


Vernon tried to answer, but even forming a single word was becoming a difficult task. Chan worriedly eyed at the pulsing wound at his neck and used the sleeve of his jacket to clean it a bit. As soon as the fabric came in contact, he winced.

  


«It’s the group of vampires that attacked Junhui.» Joshua said instead, his voice croaky and tired. He had moved from his spot on the ground and was now next to the junior, a hand covering the lower half of his face, «Chan, you have t-to get away from here. You two won’t stand a chance against them.».

  


As if to prove the point, the blonde vampire seemed to have recovered from whatever she was hit with because she was now hissing at Chan, a nasty looking burn covering half of her face, and lunged towards him to attack. But then the younger took a small bottle from his pocket and emptied its content against the girl, sending her to the ground in a new heap of pain. A couple of drops also splashed onto Joshua’s cheek and he whined in discomfort.

  


Despite the haze in his mind, Vernon figured that it had to be holy water.

  


Chan was on him again: «Come on, I’ll help you. Joshua- _hyung_ , can you stand up?» he felt arms around his waist and then the junior helped him on his feet.

  


«Yes, but s-stay far from me. I still haven’t fed.» the other warned and slowly helped himself up thanks to the wall.

  


Vernon was starting to feel a little more stable, his vision and hearing were improving, but he still felt disconnected from his body. He was in no condition of running on his own.

  


Suddenly a loud _thud_ followed by a groan came from the side. Chan quickly turned around, letting also Vernon assist to the scene of Junhui fighting off the beautiful vampire while cornered to a wall. He was proving himself to be a lot more problematic than Vernon thanks to his taller height, but the gash on his arm and bruises told them Sooyoung was still on the winning side. At the same time, Yerim had her eyes on a glass container abandoned on the ground. She raised her boot and violently smashed the item, the liquid inside spreading onto the ground. And then her focus shifted onto them.

  


«Stop right there!» She ran towards Vernon but Joshua, having somehow recovered some of his strength, immediately threw his entire body against her and managed to pin the girl to the wall. Unfortunately, that sudden peak of adrenaline wasn’t enough because, in a second, she exchanged their position and kneeled him in the stomach before delivering a kick to his face, sending him to the ground once again.

  


Chan gasped, his fingers tightening around the bottle of holy water but he couldn’t risk using it against Joshua. But before he or Vernon could do anything else, they heard a sound behind them and suddenly he was wrenched away from his younger friend. Unable to keep himself upright, he fell on his side with a groan, the impact making everything fuzzy again. And before he could process what had just happened, a hand found its way on his neck and he was unceremoniously rolled over his back.

  


The blonde vampire was on him, the burns on her skin were angry, red and ugly, but the golden eyes and the maniac expression was what truly scared him.

  


«All of you stay still or I’ll snap his neck.» she threatened and consequently gripped harshly at his throat. Vernon whined in discomfort.

  


«No!».

  


«Let him go!»

  


«You can’t do that!».

  


His friends’ voices mixed all together in his head, it was impossible for him to recognize who was who. He shook his head lightly to regain some clarity but that did nothing other than make the girl tighten her fingers.

  


«Wait a sec.» came a female voice, Vernon thought it was the black-haired girl. He heard movement to his side before she spoke again: «Oh, you looked familiar. I wasn’t expecting you to be here.» she said in an amused tone.

  


«Get your hands off of him!» This time Vernon recognized Chan. He hated the fact that he couldn’t see anything other than the sky and the blondie disfigured face. He hated not knowing what was happening around him.

  


«Hey, _unnie_. You can have the A type, I’ll be more than happy to finally have a taste of the pretty boy over here. The little one is all yours, Yerim.».

  


The vampire on top of him agreed with a giggle, a complete contrast to the scream of protests coming from his friends. He couldn’t let that happen, he had to do something, he had to stop them. His hands were starting to feel a little less numb compared to the rest of his body, so, with extreme fatigue, Vernon managed to raise them and tried to move them on top of his attacker.

  


«L-Leave t-them… alone…».

  


«Aww, look at him. You’re completely at my mercy and yet you’re worrying over your friends. Aren’t you a brave one?» she chuckled and easily pinned his hands under her knees, «Too bad you can’t do anything for them. So I suggest you to stay still and not squirm too much, it’ll make it a lot easier for me.» she declared and lowered her mouth on his throat, this time on the unharmed side. He tried to use his hands again but they wouldn’t budge. And soon enough, she sank her teeth in.

  


«Stop! It’s me that you want, me! Why are you dragging them in all of this?».

  


The bite was less painful than before but its effect was just as bad. His hands returned useless, his head started spinning once again, the black spots were reappearing. Vernon felt so sick and so tired.

  


«It’s easy, fledging. If you hurt one of us, we’ll hurt you double the amount. Literally.».

  


It was getting hard to stay awake, his eyelids were comparable to rocks. But he willed them to stay open and tried to look to his left, where his friends were.

  


«I hope you learned your lesson. Don’t interrupt our feeding ever again or we’ll be back. Or better yet, we will be taking the other two with us and keep them at our coven. And if I see your face again, I might decide to drain them right in front of your eyes.».

  


If Vernon had the strength to fight back, the black-haired vampire would have been the first one he would have beaten into a pulp.

  


A whimper came from Joshua: «Fuck y-you.».

  


«Aww, adorable.».

  


His eyes were slowly closing. The pain was fading and was quickly getting substituted by a sense of emptiness and numbness. Everything felt so far and distant from him.

  


He really, really wanted to sleep.

  


«Oh, look. He’s almost empty. You should start saying goodbye to him now that he’s still coherent.».

  


« _Hyung_ , no!».

  


«Get your hands off of Vernon, monsters!».

  


«P-Please, I’m begging you, let him go.»

  


No. No, he couldn’t fall asleep. He had to do something. They wanted to hurt Chan and Junhui, possibly kill Joshua too. He had to move, he had to fight back, he had to look for help.

  


But he just couldn’t.

  


And right in that moment, he accepted that that was it for him.

  


That was how he was going to spend his last minutes. His life slipping away from his fingers without any possibility for him to stop it. He was just laying on the ground, fighting with his brain to stay awake and realizing that it was useless, swimming in the liquid that made the entirety of his body and at the same time the cause of his death.

  


How ironic.

  


Was this what Joshua felt? Did he feel the cold take over him? Did he feel his muscles relax and all of the tension lifting up? Did he feel like his mind was a whirlwind of thoughts and emotions but at the same time blank and devoid of anything?

  


Death was such a weird experience. A contrast of pain and relief, of heaviness and lightness. He now truly understood how feeble the line between life and death was.

  


And then came a voice.

  


«What is going on here?».

  


Everything shattered.

  


The weight pulling him down gone. The tornado in his head gone. The teeth on his neck gone.

  


Vernon opened his eyes.

  


And he found himself looking at probably the most ethereal person he had ever seen.

  


It was a male around his age, probably a bit older than him. His skin was fair, his face an elegant mixture of soft and harsh lines, with prominent cheekbones and an oval-shaped face. He had the lightest shade of blond in his hair, long on the front covering his big and slightly droopy eyes but short in the back. He wore an expensive-looking outfit, made of a white jacket with red ornaments all over it, a white turtleneck underneath and slacks.

  


Simply put, he was a sculpture that somehow had come to life and had walked straight out of a museum. An angel ascended from heaven who had blessed them with his presence.

  


The only problem was that the angel had the coldest and blankest stare settled on his eyes and was currently holding by the neck the blonde vampire who had almost killed Vernon.

  


That was a devil disguised as an angel.

  


«What a surprise. I thought we had resolved our little disagreement a couple of weeks ago.» he spoke. His voice was soft and polite, the complete opposite of what was storming in his pupils.

  


He tilted his head, his eyes glossing over the other people present in the alley : «So why are you here?».

  


Now that nobody was holding him still, Vernon managed to turn his head with great fatigue and found the black-haired vampire standing completely frozen, the aura of cockiness and aloofness gone. Junhui was at her feet, both of his hands under her shoe and his face a mess of bruises and blood. His gaze was focused only on the beautiful stranger. Not too far from her he could see Yerim pinning Chan to the wall and Joshua curled on the ground next to them holding his hip with a hand.

  


«Uhm. We- I- Sir -».

  


«I simply asked a question, I don’t see why it is so difficult to answer, especially after hearing how talkative you were during our meeting, Sooyoung-ssi.» the angel cut her off.

  


The vampire was visibly trembling, her gaze going from her friend to the hand holding her in midair. Noises of distress were coming from her mouth: «C-Could you first release her? She’s- She’s in pain, sir.» she muttered.

  


In fact, the blonde vampire was trying to pry the angel’s hand off of her without any success, her legs dangling in discomfort. She probably wasn’t going to die, considering she really didn’t need to breathe in order to survive, but that chokehold had to be extremely painful.

  


«Should I?» he replied, «I’m pretty sure the human at my feet was very much in pain, but no matter how much Jisoo asked you, you never released him.».

  


Jisoo? What was he talking about?

  


«I- Uhm, yes. B-But-».

  


«Give me a good reason.» Suddenly his tone became icier, «Give me a good reason as to why I should let you walk you out of my territory. As to why I shouldn’t slaughter you when I specifically warned you to never show your faces again or I would have torn you to shreds with my own hands, starting from the youngest one, and make you watch the entire process and cower in fear until your turns come.».

  


Yerim whimpered at that. The blonde girl squirmed even more in his hold.

  


«No, no, please!» Sooyoung immediately dropped to her knees and pressed her forehead to the ground, «Y-You can’t do that. I apologize, we apologize! We’re never going to bother you again, please-».

  


«Of course you won’t.» His fingers moved to a different angle and a sharp snapping sound came from the blonde vampire’s neck. She screamed out loud in pain, now actively trying to kick his captor, but the only reaction she received from him was a bored look, «Not if I kill you first.».

  


Vernon was paralyzed. And not just because of the venom running through his veins

  


« _Unnie_ , no!» Yerim let go of Chan and ran towards the angel but she was immediately blocked by her black-haired companion, who stood up and put herself in front of the younger girl. Despite now being free, Chan didn’t move from his position, a horrified look in his eyes.

  


«P-Please, sir. T-Think about it.» she reasoned, «If you kill us, that’ll give Joohyun-nim a reason to start a war against you. A-And you don’t want that, right? We’re very clo-close to her, she won’t be happy to hear about-».

  


Sooyoung shut up when the blondie wailed again, the stranger had tightened his grip. He tilted his head a little, a pensive look in his eyes, as if he was seriously considering what the vampire had just said to him, and then he spoke: «What you said is true. Antagonizing Joohyun wouldn’t be beneficial to me, nothing more than a waste of time. It would really be a shame to get rid of her, she’s a brilliant leader. I can’t really say the same for her adepts, but what can we do? People are all different.».

  


His eyes moved to the black-haired girl: «So, yes, making Joohyun an enemy of mine is not in my plans.».

  


Vernon saw her body relaxing, just a little tough. He had the feeling that the mysterious man hadn’t finished.

  


And he was right.

  


«But, say, what if an accident happened?».

  


And the tension returned all over again. Yerim grabbed at Sooyoung’s shoulders and squeezed tight.

  


«What if our dear Joohyun suddenly received a phone call, telling her the terrible news that someone dumped the bodies of three of her coven members in front of the Seventeen, their heads missing and half of their guts out in the open for the flies to eat? What if she rushed here, demanding to know what has happened, and I would answer that a feral vampire attacked them? What if I immediately offered her to find the culprit and only couple of days later, I would go to her and deposit the body of said culprit right at her feet, resolving the situation and leaving her to her mate to mend her broken heart and mourn in peace?».

  


At the end of his speech, he raised the blondie higher, making her squeal once again. The black-haired girl gritted her teeth: «S-She won’t believe you. She’ll never believe you.».

  


«But why should I lie? We resolved our misunderstanding, you kept your word and never showed up here.» he replied with a light tone, his eyes got bigger and he pursued his lips. It was supposed to look innocent, but nothing about it was: «I wouldn’t have any reason to harm any of you. So why should Joohyun suspect me, especially when I’m the one proposing to help her? I wouldn’t have any reason to kill you right here and right now.».

  


Suddenly the stranger released the blonde vampire – or rather, he launched her against the wall with little to no care. She immediately sunk to her knees, coughs and whimpers coming from her mouth. Her two friends immediately ran over to her to make sure she was okay.

  


«We don’t want that unfortunate situation to happen, right?» the angel arched an eyebrow.

  


Sooyoung couldn’t do anything other than quickly nod.

  


«That means this is the last time I find you stepping foot in my territory, right?».

  


«Yes, yes, absolutely, sir.»They helped their friend getting up, Yerim put her hand over her shoulder to help her stay on her feet.

  


«Perfect.» He smiled at them, a very courteous and graceful smile that would have been perfect if it weren’t for the coldness in his pupils, and watched them walking towards the exit of the alley, but once Sooyoung was next to him he grabbed her by her jaw and forcefully turned her head to him, «Because if I see yoyìu one more time near Jisoo or these humans, that scenario might become reality. Are we clear?».

  


«Y-Yessir!».

  


He released her with no other words and watched as the trio scampered away, the same coldness of before swimming in his eyes even when the girls had disappeared from view. And then he sighed, finally focusing on Vernon and the others.

  


First he kneeled, put his arms around Vernon’s middle and easily settled him over his shoulder. Chan and Junhui, who had stood up only after the trio of girls had run off, seemed to be ready fight once again, to which the stranger rolled his eyes in annoyance: «I just saved your life. Do you really think I’m going to hurt you _now_? Please.».

  


Then he started walking. Vernon couldn’t see anything other than the ground but after a second, he heard footsteps and then two pair of shoes entered in his vision: «Vernon, are you okay?».

  


He wanted to answer to Junhui, but it was impossible for his tongue to move, not to mention he was feeling lightheaded and the world hadn’t stopped spinning since the entrance of their savior.

  


And then he realized there was a person missing. Or rather, a vampire.

  


And that was when the blonde said: «Jisoo, go home on your own and drink at least three blood bags. I’ll deal with you later. Kiddo, I hope you’re okay with needles, he needs a transfusion right now.»

  


This was the last thing he heard before sleep overpowered his will to stay awake and succumbed to slumber, the voices of his friends becoming distant and the darkness swallowed him.

  


  


‹(˅⃝˅)›

  


  


Vernon woke up with a headache.

  


As soon as his eyes opened, he immediately felt a sting steadily building in his temples and quickly shut them with a wince. He rubbed at his forehead to lessen the ache a bit before he lifted his eyelids again and tried to discern where he was.

  


He was lying on a bed that wasn’t his own inside of a room that wasn’t in his house. Light was filtering through the blinds, he clearly remembered passing out when the sun had already disappeared behind the horizon. For how long had he been out?

  


Vernon sat up slowly, his eyebrows coming together in a frown when his head pulsed at the action, but he managed to lean back against the headboard. He turned his head to look around the room but was stopped by the sudden pain coming from his throat. He brought his hands over his neck and found a bandage, his fingers gently moving over the fabric as to not increase the discomfort and only then he realized he had an IV attached to his arm. An IV that led to a blood bag strategically placed next to his bed.

  


He didn’t have the time to ponder over it because the door to his room opened and both Junhui and Chan walked in, holding respectively a bowl with ramen and a bottle water.

  


« _Hyung_ , you’re awake!» the younger exclaimed with a smile and immediately went to his side.

Junhui took place on the other side of the bed: «Hey. How do you feel?».

«Like a truck just hit me. And you guys?» he responded while giving a quick look-over his friends, but apart from a couple of scratches and a plaster or two on their faces, he didn’t see anything out of the ordinary.

«Definitely better than you.» Junhui offered him the bowl, Vernon thanked him and started eating. Alongside the headache, he had woken up feeling incredibly hungry.

  


«What happened after I blacked out? Where’s Joshua?» Suddenly a series of terrifying flashed in his mind, «He’s fine, right?».

  


«Your boy toy is okay, don’t worry.» Junhui crossed his arms with an eye roll, «He spent all of his time chugging blood and watching over you. Jeonghan managed to snatch him away from you just a couple of minutes ago, he’ll be back soon.»

  


He put down the bowl at the name: «Jeonghan?».

  


«The one who saved us. Apparently he smelled your blood and immediately figured that something was going on outside of the Seventeen.».

  


So the eerily beautiful yet creepy blonde man was the infamous vampire who had saved Joshua? From how he had talked about him, he had expected him to be a lot more different from what he had seen. A lot more old and harmless. Well, okay, vampires couldn’t exactly be considered harmless, but the image he had created in his mind was the complete opposite of reality.

  


«He brought you here for a transfusion, we would have never made it to an hospital.» Chan said. Vernon noticed the rolled-up sleeved and the sign of an injection on his elbow.

  


«So we’re at the Seventeen right now?».

  


«Yup. Spent the entire night actually.» Junhui pointed out. His first thought was his family, they had expected him to come home last night, what was going through their heads right now? Were they convinced he had been kidnapped or something?

  


Chan seemed to figure out his distress because he quickly reassured him: «Don’t worry. We told all of our parents that we were staying with a friend.».

He hummed in understanding: «By the way, how did you know I was in trouble?» he asked returning to his ramen.

«Well, you didn’t answer your phone. At first we thought you were just too worried over Joshua and didn’t hear the call, but I was getting a weird feeling so I convinced Chan to hop on a bus and follow you to the Seventeen. And then we saw your car abandoned on the street and we figured something had happened to you.».

  


«Ah, shit, right.» he ruffled at his head.

  


«You remembered to close the doors at least.» Junhui offered with a grin.

  


Vernon let out a sigh: «Yeah.» he looked back at his friends and gave them a smile, «I’m glad you’re okay. I was so scared that those vampires would take you away and hurt you.».

  


«And what about you? For a second I was convinced you wouldn’t have survived.» Chan wrapped his arms around his body, careful not to jostle him around too much, «I was terrified. When I saw you on the ground and that nasty-looking bite, I wanted to cry and at the same time pulverize whoever did that to you.».

  


Vernon put down the bowl and reciprocated the hug: «I’m fine now. It takes more than two vampires to take me down apparently.» he patted at his back. He heard the younger chuckle on his shoulder.

  


Junhui leaned towards them and enveloped both of them in a hug. He didn’t say anything, but Vernon felt all of the emotion getting conveyed simply by that gesture. He was happy and glad that nothing had happened to him or his friends.

  


«I’m honestly considering leaving out vampires from the lists of creatures of the club.».

«Why? Not all of them are evil.»

  


«What? Vernon Chwe is for the first time the one suggesting to keep researching a certain supernatural being and not me?».

  


«Actually, I also don’t want to see vampires for a while.» Chan muttered.

  


«Fair enough.».

  


«Am I disturbing you?».

  


All three of them broke the hug as soon as they heard that question. Vernon looked up and saw Joshua at the door hesitantly stepping inside.

  


He looked so much better compared to yesterday, his skin had finally regained an healthy color and his face was full and brimming with life. The only problem was that he wasn’t nowhere near as relaxed as he usually was, a cloud of anxiety surrounding him.

  


«No, it’s fine.» he mumbled, then shot a request to his friends through his eyes. Of course they both understood and immediately headed for the exit.

  


«Wait, you don’t have to-».

  


«It’s okay. We still have to eat breakfast, right Chan?».

  


«Absolutely, _hyung_.».

  


«But I saw the bowls in the sink and-» They both ignored him and closed the door behind their backs. Joshua could only sigh and stare at the entrance. Vernon chuckled.

  


«I actually wanted to talk with you too, don’t worry about them.» he said softly, waiting for the other to come to his side and plop down on the bed. He remained silent, waiting for Joshua to start.

  


«I… I honestly have a lot of things to say but I-» the vampire rubbed at his forehead before continuing, «Okay. First of all, I know I don’t have the right to say this, especially after all of the shit I put you through, but I am deeply sorry for everything that happened. Not just for the attack, but like- everything.».

  


«Everything?».

  


«Yeah, everything. Invading your house at night, snapping at you in the car, making you worry without telling you the reason, the mental breakdown, or downs actually, and- the alley incident. I’m so fucking sorry for all of this.».

  


«Hey, slow down.» he gently placed his hand on his shoulder, he was happy to note that this time Joshua didn’t move away, «Don’t apologize for those vampires, you weren’t the one to order them to kill me. And no, I don’t care that they did it just because you stopped them from hurting Junhui, if anything I should be thankful for that.».

  


«But I shouldn’t have let down my guard. I should have known they wouldn’t have given up so easily.».

  


«How could you have possibly known that? C’mon, Josh, you’re a vampire, not a clairvoyant. Don’t apologize for something you weren’t responsible for.».

  


Joshua lowered his gaze and curled his lips, seemingly debating what to say next, until he opened his mouth again: «Okay, I’ll accept that, but you can’t stop me from apologizing for all of the rest.».

  


«That makes even less sense.».

  


Joshua full on glared at him, even if there was no real anger in his eyes. Vernon burst out laughing.

  


«Again, you saved Junhui, the less I could do was offer you a place to stay for the night. And, honestly, I’m okay with you snapping. Like, I’m not happy about it, I don’t like to be on the receiving hand, but if that helps you de-stress, then it’s fine for me.».

  


«So are you saying that you’re willing to listen to me freaking out again?».

  


Vernon shrugged: «I mean, I could. Do you need to freak out right now?».

  


«Uhm, not really. In fact, I’m trying to do the opposite.».

  


«Why? We’re having an heart-felt talk, I think it’s fair to give the both of us the benefit to freak out a little.».

  


«Oh my God, you’re unbelievable.» the vampire shook his head in disbelief, «It’s really difficult being serious with you, you know?».

  


«Did I at least help you calm down a bit? You’re worse than Chan before an oral exam and trust me, he’s the definition of nervousness.».

  


Joshua stared at him for a brief moment before a little small dropped on his lips and a snort came out of them: «You aren’t unbelievable. You’re even worse than that.» he said in between giggles. Vernon could safely assume he had succeeded.

  


«Okay, fine, now I’ll stop.» he assured once the other’s laughter had died, «And I’ll accept your apology but only for running away from me yesterday. That was really mean.».

  


And that was when the anxiety returned again. Vernon promptly squeezed Joshua’s hand, who did the same in return: «It was, yeah. I’m so sorry for yelling at you and for telling you that I didn’t want to see you again. I didn’t mean it, of course, I was just too upset and I didn’t think about my words and-».

  


«I get it. It’s okay.» the human replied, «Everybody says things that they don’t really mean while angry. I know you weren’t being serious with all that talk about being a monster and all of that.».

  


But instead of agreeing with him, Joshua looked away.

  


Vernon frowned: «You weren’t being serious, right?».

  


The prolonged silence was enough of an answer.

  


«Joshua?» he softly mumbled, hoping to receive an explanation.

  


The senior lowered his head while chewing nervously at his lips, he still didn’t say anything.

  


«Joshua. Please-».

  


«I-».

  


They ended up overlapping each other. Vernon prompted the other to continue with a nod. The vampire let out a breath before he started speaking.

  


«Not everything that I said I believe to be true. But… most of it was.» he rubbed at the sleeve of his sweater, «I don’t consider myself a monster. At least, not in the sense that I’m dangerous to others. I mean, I know that I potentially could be, but I don’t want to. I’ll admit that yesterday the lack of blood came to my head and I freaked out, but in a normal situation I know that I would never intentionally hurt someone. I trust my ability to withstand my thirst.».

  


He stopped the motion and tightened his fingers, the fabric bunching up in his fist: «The problem is something else. Something… much worse for me.».

  


And suddenly Vernon noticed one detail. He hadn’t really paid attention to his face, mostly because Joshua’s bangs covered pretty much half of it and he could really only see his profile, but now that the senior finally turned to face him, he saw it.

  


That distant look.

  


The same of many weeks ago where Joshua had confessed that he wasn’t okay, that there was something wrong.

  


And now Vernon had figured it out.

  


«That something… Is this what has been troubling you all this time?» He wanted confirmation.

  


Again, Joshua didn’t say anything and preferred to just move his head up and down. Vernon’s silence urged him to elaborate on that: «These thoughts didn’t come out of the blue. They’ve always been here, in my brain, since I’ve been turned. Hiding them has just gotten more difficult.».

  


«Joshua-».

  


«Let me finish first.» he gripped his hand tighter, «When I woke up the first time as a vampire, I immediately felt something wrong with me. Not just because of the fact that I wasn’t human anymore, I genuinely could feel that a piece of me had somehow broken and shattered in a thousand of pieces. I felt… different. And that made me scared.

  


«I thought to myself “What am I gonna do now? Will I ever see my beloved ones again? Is it possible for me to live again like a human?”, all of these kind of things. It became so bad that after just a week from my turning, I starved myself for three days and basically reverted back to how I was a little after that vampire bit me. I didn’t want a second chance in life if I would have been forced to live with those thoughts. Add to that my complete refusal to feed off of blood and you get the picture.».

  


Vernon squeezed his hand incredibly tight. He didn’t want to imagine what a world without Joshua Hong would be.

  


«Jeonghan put back some sense into me, thank God. He didn’t qualm all of my fears, but at least he made me understand how stupid and reckless I had been. You know, he might be kind of an asshole, but he helped me in so many ways. Getting back on my feet, teaching me the ways of the vampire world, even bringing me back to school even if he opposed it. I really owe him a lot.».

  


Vernon found it a hard little to believe that the Jeonghan Joshua talked so highly of and the blonde devil who threaten to massacre the group of vampires were the same individuals, but he didn’t voice this opinion out loud. He trusted the other’s words.

  


«But, like I told you, he isn’t the cure to all of my problems. In fact, I don’t need it anymore considering that they have already happened.».

  


«You mean your parents?» he softly asked.

  


Joshua nodded: «And my friends. I didn’t tell you about them, but I’m sure you noticed their absence. At the start of the year, I left the soccer team and the choir because I was afraid that being so close to so many people would have been a problem for me. I also started skipping lunch because I didn’t want to drink blood right in front of them and, again, that place is packed with humans. I had never really gone out after my transformation, so school was my first dive-back into society and let’s say that I was still a little clumsy regarding my vampirism. Basically, I spent a lot more time alone. My friends immediately asked me if something was wrong and I had to use the pulmonary infection excuse or a last-minute study session in the library, which for a while worked. They didn’t pry on the subject any further and life went on. That was until I started noticing a change in their behavior.

  


«They talked to me less than usual, we didn’t hang out outside of school anymore, sometimes they would even actively avoid me. I told myself that it was better, the less people I had to interact with, the easier was for me to keep my thirst under control and the faster I would learn to pretend to be a human. So once I had a good grasp on my limits, I started looking for them again. But then I got my second reality-check thanks to one of my friends telling me that it was a waste of time talking to me now that I wasn’t as popular as before. Not the captain of the soccer team, not the lead singer of the choir, not among the group of the cool kids, what purpose did I have now? I wasn’t the same as before, so what difference made my presence among them?».

  


Vernon’s free hand closed around the blanket and tightened. How dare they saying those things to Joshua, who was one of the kindest and gentle souls he had ever met? How dare they refer to him as useless, as if he was nothing more than a stepping stone rather than an actual living being with a personality?

  


He shrugged and then sighed: «And so they cut me off. Just like that. The day before I was happily conversing with them and then the next one I suddenly don’t exist anymore. I know this probably sounds pathetic, but that night I found myself wishing that Jeonghan wouldn’t have saved me if it meant that I could have spent some time again with them. Yes, they’re terrible people, but they were also the only people I knew, the only ones I could call friends. But they left me, exactly like my parents, just because I became a fucking vampire.».

  


«They don’t deserve you. None of them deserve you.» Vernon affirmed, «I understand what you mean, but would you have been really happy being surrounded by fake friends who bothered to stay at your side just because of your popularity? Or to live with parents that immediately refused to welcome you back because of something you could have never imagined or stopped?».

  


«I know, I know. Shit, you are right.» Joshua squeezed his eyes shut and tilted down his head, «But at least I wouldn’t have been alone. At least I would have still had someone with me. At least I wouldn’t feel so lonely and lost.» he muttered as he covered his face in his hands.

  


«You know. The only reason as to why I decided to join the tutoring club was because I wanted to show my old friends that I hadn’t changed. That even after I became a vampire I was still myself.» a sniff came from behind his palms, «But I was just deluding myself. Joshua Hong died back in that alley from blood loss. This… This isn’t him, this is just a mannequin too terrified to live that hides behind a mask every single day of his pathetic life.».

  


That heartbreaking confession uttered with such devastated and broken voice was the most devastating thing Vernon had heard. That was the fear, that was the terror that had taken permanent residence inside of Joshua’s heart and mind. For the first time, he was truly opening up to him, and it was both painful and reliving.

  


«Why are you saying that? What makes you believe that you changed?» Apart from the obvious transition from human to vampire.

  


«Because why else would they abandon me?» his tone became frustrated, suddenly raising his head and glaring at the junior, «I know that vampires don’t live like human, of course I have to act differently from before. But my personality, my hobbies, everything that makes me Joshua Hong shouldn’t have changed. T-That’s what Jeonghan said, so why the fuck is everybody leaving me behind telling me that I’m different, that I’m not me, that I changed and I’m not like before?! I don’t want to be different, I want to stay the same, I want the same life as before. I- I don’t want… I-I-».

  


Joshua sobbed, his eyes wet and so sad and yet no tears came out from them.

  


_“Look, I can’t even cry! I can’t fucking cry!”_

Maybe that sentence hadn’t been an exaggeration.

  


Vernon couldn’t take it anymore and wrapped his arms around the senior, softly guiding his head to his chest. The other tensed for a moment before relaxing in the human’s hold , fingers weakly grabbing Vernon’s shirt and continuously sobbing.

  


«I don’t want to be alone… I don’t want to be alone… I don’t want to be alone…» he repeated without a pause in between, voice crestfallen and defeated.

  


«You’re not alone, Joshua. You have me, you have Chan and Jun, you have Jeonghan and your siblings, as you called them. Just because some people left you doesn’t mean that you’re destined to be on your own for the rest of your life. Don’t let those assholes convince you that you aren’t deserving of company simply because something unfortunate happened to you and you had to change in order to survive and live like you want.».

  


A sniff came from Joshua: «But if I had never changed, I wouldn’t be suffering so much.».

  


«Fuck that change bullshit. Who cares if you’re not the same person as before? Who says that you became a worse version of yourself?».

  


The vampire slowly moved his head so that his eyes became visible, looking up at Vernon in confusion: «Huh?».

  


«I didn’t know you before and, yeah, maybe as a human you were an even better person, a saint, I don’t know. But what makes you say that vampire Joshua is worse than human Joshua? Your friends and family? I’m sorry to say this, but they probably didn’t give a shit about you if they thought that the appropriate response to your transformation was to cut you off. Please, don’t put the blame on yourself for that.».

  


«B-But you admit that I’m not like before-»

  


«I don’t know. Again, we weren’t familiar with each other, so I can’t exactly answer to that. But honestly? I don’t fucking care.» he gently cupped the senior’s cheeks, a reassuring smile forming on his lips, «Because I know you _now_ , I know _this_ version of Joshua Hong who doesn’t deserve the treatment that those assholes put you through. I know the Joshua who’s sweet and kind, the one who tends to be a little overprotective over the ones he loves, the one who didn’t hesitate to endanger his life in order to save a classmate he barely knew, the one who made me realize that hiding behind a mask would have only brought more problems instead of resolving them.».

  


  


He stroked at his cheekbone with as much tenderness as he could, trying to convey all of his honesty in the next words: «Maybe you did change. But instead of whishing of returning to how you were before, why not embrace this new version of you?».

  


Joshua remained still, staring at him with wide eyes, surprise and disbelief swimming in his pupils. The sunrays hit him directly in the eyes, bringing out the threads of golden embedded in the brown, and making his skin look pearly and translucent. He was beautiful, nothing short than heavenly.

  


Vernon couldn’t contain himself and let a finger run through the vampire’s cheek, then moved onto his caramel hair, putting an unruly strand behind his ear and then briefly going for the earring piercing the lobe.

  


«You’re still Joshua Hong for me.».

  


And that was when the realization hit the other. That was when Joshua broke into a breathtaking smile, finally one resembling those of when they had first met. A true and authentic smile.

  


He sniffed one last time before gently taking Vernon’s hands away from his face and slotting his fingers in between.

  


«Thank you, Vernon. Thank you for listening to me.».

  


He didn’t say anything in response, instead preferring to watch the work of art that the vampire in front of him was. Both outside and inside.

  


Even if he wasn’t a masterpiece, he was perfect in Vernon’s eyes.

  


«And hey, if you had never become a vampire, you wouldn’t have met Jeonghan and the others.» he added with a grin, «And, maybe, you would have never gotten to know me, Jun or Chan.».

  


Even if he had put that maybe inside of that sentence, he knew that him and Joshua would have remained simply two students going at the same school. Despite all of the troubles, the embarrassment and the subsequent fight, if Jun had never proposed the plan of unmasking him the senior as a vampire, they would have never talked to each other and develop the relationship that they had now.

  


In some ways, Joshua becoming a vampire had actually led to mostly positive things for both of them.

  


Joshua chuckled: «You know, you have quite the penchant for philosophy. Ever thought about becoming one in the future?».

  


«I really don’t see myself as one.» he replied with a laugh as well.

  


Once they had both calmed down, Joshua spoke again, his voice taking again a serious tone: «Vernon, seriously… Thank you for your words. I’ll be honest with you, they were poetic and beautiful, but you didn’t magically convince me.».

  


That made Vernon frown in disappointment.

  


«You are right, my parents and my friends aren’t exactly the best people out there, but still, it’s not easy detaching myself from them. And it still bothers me the idea of being different, I’m sorry.» he affirmed with his gaze low, playing with Vernon’s hands, «But… I can learn. I want to learn. I want to come to peace with myself.».

  


Joshua sighed: «Which brings me to the other big thing I wanted to talk about with you. My, or rather, our feelings for each other.».

  


Of course that made him blush. Of course he had completely forgotten about that part.

  


«I… don’t think that I love you. At least not yet. I do like you, a lot, but I know for a fact that clearly we are on very different levels at the moment.».

  


«Does that bother you?» he mumbled.

  


«No, not at all. I mean, if anything I feel honored to be loved by someone so passionate and amazing like you.» Joshua clarified. The junior found himself getting redder at that sentence. Joshua compliments would never fail to do so.

  


«I hope you aren’t bothered by me not having the same feelings for you.» the vampire said in concern.

  


Vernon immediately shook his head: «No! You don’t have to say I love you if you aren’t ready. I would never force you to do that.».

  


The other giggled: «Yes. Proving my point even more. How is it that God can create such perfect human beings?».

  


_I don’t know. Since you’re a good example, why don’t you ask?_

  


He kept that to himself.

  


«And you’ll have to forgive me once again because I’m not ready to be involved in a relationship with you. A romantic relationship.».

  


That felt like a bucket of cold water thrown right at his face.

  


«W-Why? We both like each other, what’s the matter?» he said in confusion, «Is it because you’re a vampire and I’m not?».

  


Joshua quickly shook his head: «No, it’s not that. It’s just… I have to resolve my problem first. And if I want to do that, I have to get rid of all these thoughts clouding my judgment. And, honestly, you would be incredibly helpful, especially if we become intimate. But… that’s not how I want things to go. I want to change, so I want to be the one to make that change, even if that is going to make the process ten times slower and harder. I don’t want you to be my only emotional support since one, it wouldn’t be fair against you, and two, if for some reason we have to part ways in the future I probably wouldn’t be able to stand on my feet on my own without you.».

  


«So you’re saying that you first want to be at peace with yourself before we start dating?».

  


Joshua stayed silent before quietly humming: «I probably would spend most of the time complaining and talking about my shitty life, which is a part of relationships but not the main core. Mutual respect and sustain is important. At least, that’s what I think.».

  


«Yeah, yeah. Absolutely. I agree with you.» he concluded.

  


Vernon couldn’t lie and say that he was perfectly okay with it. He was dying to kiss Joshua senseless, to hold him like the precious treasure he was, to take care of him. But he would have never forced all of those things if Joshua wasn’t comfortable with it.

  


It was fine. He would have waited.

  


«This doesn’t mean that we have to stop seeing each other. I mean, if it’s okay with you, I still want to be friends.» Joshua clarified.

  


Vernon didn’t need time to think for his answer.

  


«Of course. I would never leave you behind, especially not after what I just told you.».

  


Joshua grinned at him: «Then we’re settled, I think.».

  


The other nodded: «Yeah. And, please, don’t be afraid to ask for help. The fact that you want to be responsible for your own change is incredible, but remember that there’re other people ready to help you along the way.».

  


Joshua squeezed his hands as a silent yes.

  


They spent the following minute without saying anything, simply basking into the comfort of the quietness. Vernon’s hands had moved back onto the other’s face, gently caressing his cheeks with his thumb. In turn, Joshua cupped his face and with the softest of the touches traced at his bottom lip, big eyes zeroed on his mouth with desire swimming in his pupils. Goosebumps filled his entire body.

  


«It’s getting really hard to stop myself from kissing you.» Vernon couldn’t help but say.

  


And then Joshua surprised him with a cheeky smile: «Maybe you don’t have to. Just this once.».

  


That was all that he needed for closing his eyes and pressing his mouth against Joshua’s.

  


The kiss wasn’t anything memorable. It was more like a peck, lips not even moving and both of their hands firmly stuck onto each other’s faces. It was light and brief, Vernon leaned back just after a couple of seconds and the vampire didn’t stop him. But they knew that it was special.

  


It was a promise for the future, a comforting act rather than a sensual one.

  


And it was what they needed in that moment.

  


«Good to see that you two reconciled.».

  


Vernon should have probably been dead considering how many heart attacks he was getting in the span of two days. He looked towards the door and found Jeonghan observing them with a cryptic look.

  


Now that he wasn’t victim of the vampire’s venom and felt a lot more lucid compared to yesterday, he couldn’t help but find him even more attractive than before. Pristine blonde hair crowning his face, another elegant suit hugging his form and the bearing of a crown prince.

  


If only his stare wasn’t as icy as now.

  


«For how long have you been there?» Joshua asked with a raised eyebrow. He hopped off the bed so that he could face his sire. Vernon couldn’t help but already miss those cold hands that had become so familiar.

  


«A couple of seconds. But if you mean how long I’ve been standing outside of your bedroom waiting for you two to finish your heart-to-heart, then the answer would be approximately ten minutes.».

  


The two kids responded to that in very different ways.

  


«Jeonghan!».

  


«O-Oh. Really? S-So you’ve heard-».

  


«I arrived to the “I don’t want to be alone” part, but I could still kind of hear you from the lower floor, so I’ve pretty much been present since the beginning.» he affirmed with a shrug, «And now I can see why Jisoo is so obsessed with you.» he added with a small smirk, probably the most expressive he had been apart from pissed off and emotionless.

  


«I told you to not call me that!» Joshua groaned.

  


«And I’m still ignoring you, Jisoo.» he moved away from the wall, «Now, human, it’s better for you to go. You’ve been here for more than enough time.».

  


Vernon blinked: «Go where? At school?».

  


«Of course not.» Jeonghan rolled his eyes and walked to the IV before extracting the needle from the crook of the junior’s elbow and quickly bandaging it. He was fast but gentle at the same time, a big contrast to his blank face, «It’s better for you to take a couple of days off in order to recover. You lost quite a lot of blood.».

  


«But what will I say to my parents about this?» he pointed at his neck.

  


«Not my problem.» he declared before turning from them and getting out of the room. Joshua let out a frustrated smile as he was watching him.

  


«Sorry about that. Jeonghan is-».

  


«Kind of an asshole. Yeah.» he finished with a grin, «But he’s right. I should retrieve the car and get home.» He moved the covers in order to stand up and only then realized that he wasn’t wearing his clothes.

  


«Oh, right. Your clothes were all stained with blood, I figured I should return the favor and wash them for you.» Joshua explained, «Your Stitch boxers are very adorable, by the way.».

  


Vernon figured that another lesson he had learned that day, apart from asking Junhui to provide him with a bottle of holy water of his own, was to always be careful to not wear any embarrassing underwear.

  


  


‹(˅⃝˅)›

  


  


Almost two weeks had passed since the Seventeen’s accident and Vernon was happy to say that things were finally starting to get normal again.

  


After leaving the host club, he had spent two days wandering at home with a scarf around his neck and speaking like an old man with a cold. His parents hadn’t thankfully asked too many questions, the sore throat excuse had perfectly worked, but he couldn’t help but still feel a little uneasy every time they were home. On the morning of the third day, after ascertaining with clarity that the bite marks had disappeared, he figured that it was time to ditch the scarf and go out to buy a new supply of bandages before his mother noticed how they had mysteriously decreased in number.

  


When he had returned to school that day, he had been assaulted by Junhui and Chan right at the entrance. However, it wasn’t because they’d been happy about his recovery.

  


«What did you and Joshua talked about?».

  


«Did you finally bare yourself open to him?».

  


«Are you two together now?».

  


«Is he hopelessly in love like you?».

  


The looks of disappointment he received once he told me the decision of them still remaining friends had been priceless.

  


He didn’t go into the details too much, not because he didn’t trust his friends, but he figured he should have kept Joshua’s darkest insecurities a secret. It hadn’t been easy for him to talk to him about them, so he wasn’t going to just share them with the world. At least, not without receiving his consent.

  


The disappointment, however, didn’t take too long to go away. Mainly because Junhui was a clever one and him and Joshua weren’t exactly discreet.

  


There had been in a shift in their relationship.

  


The difference wasn’t that big considering that they still acted like friends around each other, just like they agreed. But they couldn’t exactly call what they had going between them a normal friendship.

  


Not when Vernon always sat next to Joshua during lunch and sometimes the senior would feed him whenever he was too tired to even just chew his food. Not when he was willing to listen to Joshua repeat a hundred of times the topic of his oral examinations despite not having a clue of what he was explaining to him. Not when at least one of them had his arm around the other or a hand in between the other.

  


And then, one day, a clearly frustrated Junhui had taken him aside and cornered him with the following: «There’s no fucking way you two are just friends.».

  


Despite Vernon’s attempt to deflect the argument, he couldn’t suave Junhui and his stubborn ass. In the end, both him and Joshua had to spill the beans and told them of their agreement.

  


And they surprisingly were fine with it. Well, Chan had been a bit bitter about their decision, but he didn’t actively opposed it either. In fact, they were both encouraging and proud of what Joshua wanted to do.

  


«If you need anything, just give me a call and I’ll be there for you, _hyung_.» he had said with a smile and Junhui had been on the same page.

  


«And with this I can officially declare you the fourth member of the CCCU club!» he had stood up and spread his arms wide open, almost as if inviting Joshua to literally jump towards him. The vampire had settled for an embarrassed giggle and the promise to work hard.

  


And then life simply went on. Days went by, Christmas was approaching faster and faster and Vernon spent his time with his friends without a care for the world. Finally, they had returned to the boring reality of before – not really considering that there was never a boring moment when Junhui Wen was involved.

  


The day before their winter break, Vernon approached Joshua after the two hours of the tutoring club with a proposal.

  


«So, do you remember that promise I made you some time ago?» he began while putting his notes and pens back inside of his bag.

  


«You mean the song you promised I would have been the first one to listen to?» Joshua, «I thought you had forgotten about it honestly.»

  


He opened the clubroom’s door with a frown: «No, I didn’t. Just like I told you, I started working on it the day after I found out about you. I’m a man of word.».

  


The other laughed at his serious tone: «Alright. Are you telling me that you finished it then?».

  


«Well, kind of. I wanted to ask you to… help me a little with it.».

  


Joshua’s eyebrows vanished behind his bangs: «How? I’m not really an expert on musical production.».

  


«Oh, it’s not about that. I was planning to ask Junhui at first, but then I thought that since the song is technically for you, it would have been better for you to help me.».

  


The vampire tilted his head a little confused but then he hummed: «Okay. Then what do I have to do?».

  


Vernon had come to school by car today, already thinking about the offer he was going to make to Joshua. They reached the parking lot and walked to the car. He waited for both of them to be inside of the vehicle before speaking up.

  


«The song is made of both singing and rap parts. I already took care of the latter and I was wondering if maybe you wanted to sing for me…?».

  


Joshua seemed to be surprised by his words. He didn’t say anything for a full on minute, his eyes wide open just like his mouth. Vernon was already belittling himself, thinking that he had stepped out of the line and should have stuck with his original plan. Junhui was a wonderful singer, after all. Maybe his voice wasn’t what he had in mind at first, but he could still modify the mixing and a couple of beats and-

  


«Alright.».

  


He returned back to Earth thanks to Joshua’s voice.

  


«R-Really? Are you sure? I’m not forcing you to accept or anything-».

  


«I know, yeah.» he said before scratching at his cheek, «It’s just. I haven’t sang in awhile, I don’t know how the result is going to turn out.».

  


Vernon smiled at him. Of course Joshua would worry about that: «I’m sure you’ll sound amazing. And, if that makes you feel any better, I’m also not the greatest rapper out there.».

  


«Bullshit. Your voice is perfect for rapping, I’m sure you’re incredible.».

  


«Then I can say the same for your singing ability.».

  


The vampire blinked in disbelief before letting out a sigh: «Touché. Then let’s go testing it out, shall we?».

  


The drive didn’t take too long – maybe because Vernon was a little too enthusiastic about spending the afternoon in company of the personification of all good in the world and didn’t exactly respect all of the rules of good driving – and soon they found themselves inside of Vernon’s bedroom. After haphazardly putting away all of the clothes strewn over the bed and setting up his musical gear, they started with the recording.

  


«Okay, I’ll first let you hear the entire song so that you get an idea on how to sing and then we can begin.» Once Joshua nodded, he pressed a key on his laptop and music came out of his speakers.

  


Since this song was born by Joshua’s request, his main inspiration had been of course the senior. But then, over the course of the time, the song changed. It became more unique, more free in a certain way, something also reflected in the lyrics. It was about letting oneself be free and open, without being afraid of things but just simply live without a care for the future.

  


In some ways, it had become almost like an healing song for him. And it had quickly taken place among one of the best songs he had ever made.

  


Once it finished, Joshua couldn’t help but clap: «Wow, that was… brilliant. I really like it.».

  


Vernon put a hand on his chest and sighed in an exaggerated way: «Thank God. I wouldn’t have been able to show my face to the world without your approval.».

  


The senior giggled: «It’s an honor for me.» he fixed the headphones around his head and started warming up his voices. Vernon knew that he probably sounded ridiculous for thinking this, but he swore that he could hear angels chanting whenever a note came out from Joshua’s mouth.

  


«Tell me when you’re ready.».

  


«’Kay. Oh, by the way, is the title of the song “Rocket”?».

  


The human nodded: «Is it too obvious?».

  


«I don’t know. The fact that the lyrics mention the word rocket for like thirty times might have given it away?».

  


«Ha ha, you’re very funny, Josh.».

  


«It’s a pleasure, Nonie.».

  


When the music started again, Joshua began singing and Vernon knew that he had made the right choice. Not just with the song, but also by deciding to wait for the vampire.

  


**Author's Note:**

> And we've reached the end! If you've arrived to the bottom, thank you very much for completing the (hopefully) first part of this series!
> 
> I've started this project two months ago and I can't believe I actually managed to finish it in such a short span of time. The process of writing it has been both amazing and frustrating, but I can safely say that I'm proud of the final product.
> 
> I know a lot of people are probably disappointed by the ending, and trust me, I really wanted Joshua and Vernon to end up together by the end of the story. But in the end I decided to follow this path, mostly because I hate the fact that all of the problems that the protagonist have are magically resolved by his/her lover. The world unfortunately doesn't work like that and, as you'll see, I still have a lot in store for both Joshua and Vernon (and the other members too, of course!). I based a lot of Joshua's insecurities on my own personal problems and, well, let's just say that it's been very, very difficult trying to put my thoughts into words, especially because English is not my first language. And adding to that, I hope you didn't find any terrible grammar. I proofread my work but the absence of a beta reader made everything ten times worse. But hey, at least I completed the story, right?
> 
> Honestly I don't know when the next establishment will be posted (I already have some ideas and scenes written), hopefully by the end of the year it will be finished and hopefully you'll still be there to read it!
> 
> Again, thank you so much for checking out my baby, if you liked it please don't hesitate to comment down below your own thoughts and opinions and I'll see you in the next story. Bye Bye!


End file.
